TissueDB/Tissues/Trachea
License: CC-BY-3.0 by BruceBlaus
The trachea (windpipe) is the central conducting airway between the larynx and the carina. It is kept as its own tissue class — "a special form of cartilage with fibrous rings in between in a special config" — distinct from generic Cartilage (the isolated laryngeal cartilages and rings) and from Bronchial Tissue (the branching airways below the carina). Airway simulators reproduce the tracheal rings and lumen as a recognisable, palpable landmark for front-of-neck access, intubation, and bronchoscopy training.
Materials
| Material | Visual | Tactile | Simulator | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Medical-grade silicone, Shore 45 | – | – | Pediatric Front-of-Neck Access Simulator (Kovatch) | A single moulded silicone tracheal model, cast from 3D-printed CT-derived anatomy of a 5-year-old child, giving palpable thyroid- and cricoid-cartilage landmarks and a puncturable cricothyroid membrane for needle cricothyroidotomy.[1] |
| Stratasys Agilus30 (Polyjet J750) | Paediatric Airway Management Trainer (Carter) | Paediatric trachea printed to the carina from infant CT data in Agilus30 (selected for tissue fidelity); examined with a rigid bronchoscope.[2] | ||
| Commercial Laerdal manikin moulded trachea (integrated) | Suction-Assisted Laryngoscopy and Airway Decontamination Simulator (Kumar) | Moulded trachea and glottic inlet of a Laerdal airway management trainer; the intubation target reached through the cleared, soiled airway during SALAD practice.[3] | ||
| Ex vivo bovine trachea | Bronchoscopy-Guided Percutaneous Dilatational Tracheostomy Simulator (Kattan) | Real mammalian trachea the operator palpates and punctures; provides the tracheal-ring landmarks. Source: Kattan et al. Simulation in Healthcare 2019;14(6):415–419. PMID 31804426. | ||
| 3D-printed medical-grade silicone (integrated laryngotracheal model) | Cricothyroidotomy Simulator (Gauger) | Airway lumen of the 3D-printed silicone laryngotracheal model, distal to the cricothyroid-membrane access site. Source: Gauger et al. Int J Pediatr Otorhinolaryngol 2018;114:124–128. PMID 30262349. | ||
| Cardboard tube (toilet-paper roll) | Cricothyrotomy Simulator (Aho) | Trachea-and-larynx core beneath the soft-tissue and skin layers; a low-fidelity airway landmark in an ultra-low-cost task trainer. Source: Aho et al. J Surg Educ 2015;72(4):658–661. PMID 25703738. | ||
| 3D-printed trachea (open-access REAL CRIC STL; print material not specified) | Cricothyrotomy Simulator (Calvo) | Reusable 3D-printed trachea under a pork-belly skin layer; an air pump feeds air through an ETT so it escapes at the cricothyroid membrane on entry. Rated high-fidelity under ultrasound. The printed part is the REAL CRIC trachea, made freely available by one of the Kei authors at airwaycollaboration.org, TheAirWayApp_Pro_Final.stl, which the model's authors offer free to download and print. It carries no Creative Commons licence, so print it locally and do not re-host it. The airwaycollaboration.org address printed in the paper has lapsed and must not be followed. Source: Calvo et al. Educación Médica 2021;22:305–310. | ||
| Thin cardboard tube | Cricothyrotomy Simulator (D'Auria) | Airway wall and lumen; carries the posterior and lateral conductive-foil sensor zones for the automatic scoring overlay. Shares the substrate detailed on the White UW page. Source: D'Auria & Persia, IEEE IRI 2014:514–519. | ||
| 3D-printed trachea model (open-access STL; PLA or resin) | Cricothyrotomy Simulator (Kei) | Reusable rigid anatomical core (the open-access REAL CRIC STL) the pork-belly skin overlays; resin lasts 100+ sessions, filament is cheaper but more brittle. The file is TheAirWayApp_Pro_Final.stl, free to download and print from the model's authors; it carries no Creative Commons licence, so print it locally and do not re-host it. The airwaycollaboration.org address printed in the paper has lapsed and must not be followed. Source: Kei et al. J Emerg Med 2019;56(4):426–430. PMID 30685221. | ||
| Commercial TCCC manikin airway (integrated) | Cricothyrotomy Simulator (Muller) | Integrated airway of a Strategic Operations 3-in-1 TCCC manikin, Surgilube-coated to reduce artificial friction; success is a #6 cuffed ETT seated with the cuff fully in the trachea. Source: Muller et al. Mil Med 2020;185(9–10):e1779–e1786. PMID 32567654. | ||
| Thin cardboard tube (average-adult sized) | Cricothyrotomy Simulator (White UW) | Airway wall sized to an average adult trachea; carries the posterior and lateral conductive-foil sensor zones (the cricoid and lower-ring zones sit on the printed cartilages and the foam ring). Source: D'Auria & Persia, IEEE IRI 2014:514–519, §2 (UW BioRobotics trainer). | ||
| Beef gelatin with psyllium fibre (cored lumen) | Neonatal ETT Ultrasound Simulator (Qaim Ali) | Upper hollow lumen in a gelatin-psyllium block; on a transverse neck ultrasound the air-filled lumen reads as the trachea and the gelatin as soft tissue. Source: Qaim Ali et al. BMC Med Educ 2020;20:409. PMID 33160342. | ||
| Plastic tubing | – | – | Chest Tube Insertion Simulator (Brannan) | Plastic-tubing air path from a bag-valve-mask to the balloon "lungs," labelled the trachea in the source. Source: Brannan et al. CJEM 2021;23:547–550. PMID 33783760. |
- Cartilage — the trachea is a specialized cartilage form. The isolated laryngeal (thyroid and cricoid) cartilages and the individual tracheal rings currently sit under Cartilage.
- Bronchial Tissue — the airway continues past the carina into the bronchi (sibling airway class).
References
[edit source]- ↑ Kovatch KJ, Powell AR, Green K, Reighard CL, Green GE, Gauger VT, Rooney DM, Zopf DA. Development and Multidisciplinary Preliminary Validation of a 3-Dimensional-Printed Pediatric Airway Model for Emergency Airway Front-of-Neck Access Procedures. Anesthesia & Analgesia 2020;130(2):445–451. DOI 10.1213/ANE.0000000000003774. PMID 30234534.
- ↑ Carter JC, Broadbent J, Murphy EC, Guy B, Baguley KE, Young J. A three-dimensional (3D) printed paediatric trachea for airway management training. Anaesthesia and Intensive Care 2020;48(3):243–245. DOI 10.1177/0310057X20925827. PMID 32536185.
- ↑ Kumar R, Kumar R. An Indigenous Suction-assisted Laryngoscopy and Airway Decontamination Simulation System. Indian Journal of Critical Care Medicine 2024;28(7):702–705. DOI 10.5005/jp-journals-10071-24760. PMID 38994267. CC BY-NC 4.0.
| Authors | Arturo Pelayo |
|---|---|
| License | CC-BY-SA-4.0 |
| Cite as | Arturo Pelayo (2026). "TissueDB/Tissues/Trachea". Appropedia. Retrieved October 22, 2026. |