Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1888-05-02
TRACHEoTOMY TUBES.
An Englishman Who Has Worn One 4
Fully tx Years.

An Englishman Who Has Worn One for
Fully tx Years.
A case in which the operation of tracheot-
omy proved strixingly successful has lust
come under our notice, says the Pail Mall
Gazette. II is that Of a man, formerly sol
der, who had the incision into the wind
pipe made six years ago, and who wears
the tracheotomy tube at the present mo-
ment. He was a private in the Royal En-
gineers, and took part in the Egyptian cam
paign of 1881, being present at Tel-el-Kebir.
While in Egypt he drank some bad water,
and this induced blood poisoning, which
ultimately took the form of dcep-seated alb
scesses in the neck. He returned from
Egypt, arriving in this country some time
in October, 1852, and at once became a pa
tent at the Royal Military Hospital, South
ampton. The man describes the operation
as being only little painful. The previous
difficulty in breathing had been so great
that if the incision into the windpipe had
caused much pain that pain was over
whelmed by the great relief which followed
the operation. He remained in the hospi-
tai for some months, but finally left quite
cured.
He finds but little discomfort or incon-
venience in wearing the tracheotomy tube.
He can not speak without first putting his
finger to his neck to close the orifice of the
tube. The reason for this is obvious. Voice
is caused by the vibration Of the vocal
chords in the larynx, and to set them vibra-
ting a current of air from the lungs is re-
Quired. The incisiOn of tracheotomy being
made in the windpipe below the larynx,
enough air to vibrate the vocal chords can
not be obtained until the orifce is closed.
The closing is, in most tracheotomy tubes,
effected by an automatic valve, but the
soldier now in question will have none Of
them. He wore the automatic valve for q
short time. it is true, but when he was COM
ing down Regent street one day it flew of
and was lost, and he has done very well
without it since He can also talk by put
ting his head down, in which case the orifice
is closed by his chin instead of by his finger.
He possesses a duplicate tube for use in case
of accident.
A brief description Of the tube may be
found interesting. 1t is made Of silver, that
being the metal least likely to be acted upon
by any fluids to be found in the windpipe or
by the condensed aqueous vapOr of the
breath. 1t is in reality no more than the
name implies-that is, a tube. 1t bent into
the form of a quadrant, and the outer por-
ton has a shield, which presses against the
flesh of the neck. To the shield arc attached
tapes, which pass around the neck and are
tied. These serve to keep the tube securely
in position. The instrument Is further sup
piled with a smaller inner tube and guide.
The former can easily be removed and re-
placed for the purpose of cleaning which,
however, is not necessary more than once q
day, unless the weather be very foggy. But
the inner tube is not an essential, and the
soldier of whom we write never wears it.
He removes the tube itself, the tissues
around it having become so hardened that
for a short time they answer all the purposes
of the tracheotomy tube itself The person
who is compelled TO use a tracheotomy tube
generally wears high collar, and all that is
seen is small hole.