TRACHEA


1.  Introduction:
                   The trachea is also called it as “WINDPIPE”.
2.  Situation:
                   It is situated at the level of 5th thoracic vertebra where it divides at the carina into the right and left primary bronchi, one bronchous going to each lung.
3. Measurments:
v  Length approximately 10-11cm long
v  SHAPE:  WIND PIPE.
4. Structures associated with the trachea
v  SUPERIORLY:   the larynx
v  INFERIORLY:      the right and left bronchi
v  Anteriorly:    Upper part: the isthmus of the thyroid gland .
§     Lower part: the arch of the aorta and the sternum.
v  POSTERIORLY:   The oesophagus separates the trachea from the vertebral column.
v  Laterally      : The lungs and the lobes of the thyroid gland.
5. Structure       :















v  Trachea is composed of 3 layers of tissue (C-shape) rings of hyaline cartilage lying one above another.
v  The rings are incomplete posteriorly.
v  Connective tissue and involuntary muscle join the cartilages and form the posterior wall where  the rings are incomplete.



v  The soft tissue posterior wall is in contact with the oesophagus .
       Three layers of tissue “CLOTHE” the cartilages of the trachea.
1.       The outer layer consists of fibrous and elastic tissue and encloses the cartilages.
2.       The middle layer consists og cartilages and bands of smooth muscle that wind round the trachea in a helical arrangement.
3.       The inner lining consists of ciliated columnar epithelium, containing mucus-secreting goblet cells.

6. Blood supply
v  Arterial Supply : The inferior thyroid and bronchial arteries.
v  Venous drainage:  Inferior thyroid veins into the brachiocephalic veins.
7. Nerve supply
  Para sympathetic nerve supply :
v  The recurrent laryngeal nerves and other branches of the vagi.
v  Para sympathetic stimulation constricts the trachea.
Sympathetic nerve supply:
v  Nerve supply from the sympathetic ganglia.
v  Sympathetic stimulation dilates the trachea.

8. Lymphatic supply:
v  Lymph from the respiratory passages drains through lymph nodes situated round the trachea and in the carina.
v  The area where it divides into two bronchi.
9. Functions
1. SUPPORT AND PATENCY :
v  The arrangement of cartilage and elastic tissue prevents kinking and obstruction of the airways as the head and neck move.
2. MUCOCILIARY ESCALATOR:



v  This is the synchronous and regular beating of the cilia of the mucous membrane lining that wafts mucus with adherent particles upwards towards the larynx, where it is either swallowed or coughed up.
3. COUGH REFLEX.
v  Nerve endings in the larynx, trachea and bronchi are sensitive to irritation, which generates nerve impulses conducted by the vagus nerves to the respiratory centre in the brain stem.

4. WARMING, HUMIDIFYING AND FILTERING.
v  These continue as in the nose, although air is normally saturated and at body temperature when it reaches the trachea.
10. Applied anatomy:
TRACHEITIS:    Inflammation of the trachea.
v  The infection may occur especially in tobacco smokers and people who live or work in a polluted atmosphere.


                

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