Morphometric characterisation of human tracheas: focus on cartilaginous ring variation

Area of Science:

• Anatomy
• Biomedical Engineering

Background:

• Existing literature on tracheal anatomy is limited, primarily focusing on specific regions.
• Comprehensive understanding of the entire trachea's gross and internal morphology is vital for physiological function and clinical applications.

Purpose of the Study:

• To quantitatively and qualitatively characterize the gross anatomy of the trachea.
• To analyze the morphology of individual tracheal rings.

Main Methods:

• Harvesting 10 formaldehyde-fixed cadaver tracheas.
• Measuring overall tracheal length, height, and inter-ring distances.
• Excising individual rings to measure thickness, width, and antero-posterior (A-P) diameter at three points.

Main Results:

• Average tracheal length was 10.38 cm with approximately 19 rings.
• Mean tracheal lumen width and A-P diameter were ~17.3 mm, with a width-AP ratio of 1.00, indicating 'C' shaped rings.
• Over 41% of analyzed rings exhibited abnormal shapes, deviating from the typical 'C' shape, with a slight narrowing trend in A-P diameter from upper to lower trachea.

Conclusions:

• The study provides detailed tracheal anatomy data beneficial for tracheal implant design.
• Significant variability in tracheal ring morphology was observed, warranting further investigation in larger cohorts.