558 



CYCLOPEDIA OF LIVE STOCK AND COMPLETE STOCK DOCTOR, 



PERFORMING TRACHEOTOMY. 



XXI. Tracheotomy. 



This consists of the insertion of a tube into the trachea or windpipe, 

 to prevent death from threatened suffocation. The tube ought to be of 



silver, but in the absence of 

 that, one made of tin will, in the 

 writer's opinion, answer every 

 purpose; it should be three- 

 quarters of an inch or an inch in 

 diameter, curved so as to slip 

 into the windpipe easily, with a 

 plate of the same material on the 

 end to tie to the neck, in order 

 to keep it in place. Open the 

 skin by an incision about two 

 inches long, at a point eight 

 inches below the throat; divide the 

 muscles, and lay bare the wind- 

 pipe; cut out a piece of two rings, making a hole large enough to admit 

 the tube. Take the tube out and clean it with carbolic lotion No. 39, once 

 a day, and replace it as soon 

 as possible. When the cause of 

 suffocation is removed, the tube 

 may be taken out for good. 

 The hole will soon fill up and 

 heal. Instead of using a round 

 tube and cutting out a section 

 of two rings, it is preferable to 

 use an oval tube and pass it in 

 between two rings. This does 

 away with the danger of a car- 

 tilaginous tumor growing from 

 the cut rings of the trachea. Such a tumor sometimes follows the cuttin 

 of the rings, and obstructs the breathing, rendering the horse useless. 



THE STRUCTURES MET WITH IN THE OPERA- 

 TION OF TRACHEOTOMY. 



1. The sterno raaxilaris jnuscles, (a pair) which have 

 to be separated, being joined by cellular tissue. 



2. The sterno thyro hyoidei muscles lying under those 

 above mentioned. These also have to be separated, 

 being similarly united. 



3. The trachea, which will be fully exposed when the 

 muscles are separated and pulled back. 



