{"id":4105,"date":"2024-11-08T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-11-08T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dechoker.com\/uncategorized\/ask-the-doctor-dechoker-and-tracheostomy\/"},"modified":"2024-11-08T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2024-11-08T00:00:00","slug":"ask-the-doctor-dechoker-and-tracheostomy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dechoker.com\/uk\/news\/ask-the-doctor-dechoker-and-tracheostomy\/","title":{"rendered":"Ask the Doctor: Dechoker and Tracheostomy"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Dechoker team has received several questions related to the anti-choking device and tracheostomy, which the\u00a0Mayo Clinic<\/a> describes as:<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cA hole that surgeons make through the front of the neck and into the windpipe (trachea). A tracheostomy tube is placed into the hole to keep it open for breathing. The term for the surgical procedure to create this opening is tracheotomy. A tracheostomy provides an air passage to help you breathe when the usual route for breathing is somehow blocked or reduced.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Dr. Timothy F. Pingree, M.D., Ear, Nose, and Throat Physician and member of the Dechoker Medical Advisory Team, provided the following responses:<\/p>\n

The tracheostomy location is distal from where the Dechoker works, so it will not make sense to use it (the Dechoker).<\/h2>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t imagine a bolus of food getting stuck distal to (lower in the trachea) the tracheostomy tube, unless it is a small tracheostomy tube or the cuff is deflated (see 3 below)\u2014if it is well-placed, correctly sized and the cuff inflated, a person is safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

The location is where Dechoker can act, but the cuff is well inflated and it will stop the food to enter the lungs, so not really an emergency. Should Dechoker be used here?<\/h2>\n

\u201cThis is correct: when correctly functioning with the cuff up, the tracheostomy tube acts as a dam to protect against the lower airway. However, if food or a foreign object were to be aspirated\/lodged in the upper airway (below the vocal cords and above tracheostomy tube), the\u00a0Dechoker<\/a> could still be used and would likely be helpful, if the patient can\u2019t cough it out spontaneously\u2014in this situation, the patient would likely be anxious but not in an airway emergency. It is Important to deal with things without removing the tracheostomy tube (or deflating it), so the bolus doesn\u2019t move distantly and become an emergency.\u201d<\/p>\n

The cuff is not well inflated and food will go down the trachea. Should Dechoker be used here? If yes. Should the tube be removed first? If yes, how will the open stoma affect the suction?<\/h2>\n

\u201cIf a food bolus passes beyond a tracheostomy tube, it is now in a more distal location and is an emergency. In order for the Dechoker<\/a> to work using normal aerodynamics, the tracheostomy tube should be removed and manual pressure applied to cover the hole (stoma) and create a \u201cnormal\u201d airway. An adult hand can easily cover the hole. It woo It may be possible but difficult to use the Dechoker through the stoma due to the configuration of the device.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Dechoker team has received several questions related to the anti-choking device and tracheostomy, which the\u00a0Mayo Clinic describes as: \u201cA hole that surgeons make through the front of the neck and into the windpipe (trachea). A tracheostomy tube is placed into the hole to keep it open for breathing. The term for the surgical procedure […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":4106,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_trash_the_other_posts":false,"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[76],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4105","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dechoker.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4105","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dechoker.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dechoker.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dechoker.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dechoker.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4105"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dechoker.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4105\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dechoker.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4106"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dechoker.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dechoker.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dechoker.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}