History of Tracheostomy

Tracheotomy is one of the oldest surgical procedures, which was dreaded with complications until 19th century.

The Ancient Period

The first and longest period (covering roughly 3,000 years from 1500 BC to 1500 AD)

2000 BC: The Rigveda described a healed tracheostomy incision.
Old Testament: Elijah performed mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on a child with heat stroke. This was the first example of assisted respiration.
100 BC: Asclepiades described a tracheostomy incision for improving the airway.
Approximately 400 BC: Hippocrates condemned tracheostomy, citing threat to carotid arteries.
Approximately 50 AD: Aretaeus of Cappadocia warned against the performance of tracheostomy for infectious obstruction because of the risk of secondary wound infections.
Approximately 100 AD: Antyllus described the first familiar tracheostomy as a horizontal incision between 2 tracheal rings to bypass upper airway obstruction. He also pointed out that tracheostomy would not ameliorate distal airway disease (eg, bronchitis).
131 AD: Galen elucidated laryngeal and tracheal anatomy. He was the first to localize voice production to the larynx and to define laryngeal innervation. Additionally, he described the supralaryngeal contribution to respiration (eg, warming, humidifying, filtering).
400 AD: The Talmud advocated longitudinal incision.
Approximately 400 AD: Caelius Aurelianus derided tracheostomy as a "senseless, frivolous, and even criminal invention of Asclepiades."
600 AD: The Susruta Samhita contained routine acknowledgment of tracheostomy as accepted therapy in India.
Approximately 600 AD: Dante pronounced tracheostomy "a suitable punishment for a sinner in the depths of the Inferno."

The Period Of Acceptance

1546: Brasavola published an account of tracheostomy for tonsillar obstruction. He was the first person known to actually perform the operation.
1561-1636: Sanctorius was the first to use a trocar and cannula. He left the cannula in place for 3 days.
1550-1624: Habicot performed a series of 4 tracheostomies for obstructing foreign bodies.
1702-1743: George Martine developed the inner cannula.
1718: Lorenz Heister coined the term tracheotomy, which was previously known as laryngotomy or bronchotomy.
1805: Viq d'Azur described cricothyrotomy.
1833: Trousseau reported 200 patients with diphtheria treated with tracheostomy.
1921: Chevalier Jackson codified indications and techniques for modern tracheostomy and warned of complications of high tracheostomy (cricothyrotomy).
1932: Wilson advocated prophylactic tracheostomy in patients with poliomyelitis.

The Period Of Rationalization

Present era starting in 1965
1965: the use of intubation and respiratory support for neonatal patients was described by McDonald and Stocks.