Tracheal Length in Adult Human: The Results of 100 Autopsies

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the average tracheal length and number of the tracheal cartilages in Turkish people, with emphasis on the relationships to body height and sex. A hundred fresh human cadaver tracheas were harvested from 75 males and 25 females. Age, sex and body height of cadavers were recorded. All the neck and intrathoracic structures were removed. The tracheal length was measured between the subcricoid level to the carina in resting and maximally stretched positions. Average tracheal length and number of the tracheal cartilages were compared in different body height groups in both sexes. We found that average body height was 160 +/- 6.4 cm and average tracheal length in resting position was 8.5 +/- 1 cm (range 6.5-11 cm) in females and average body height was 168.6 +/- 5.6 cm, average tracheal length was 8.7 +/- 1.1 cm (range 7-11.6 cm) in males, average number of tracheal cartilages was 13.6 +/- 1.7 (range 10-16) in females and 13.3 +/- 1.6 (range 10-19) in males and average number of the tracheal cartilages per centimeter was 1.6 +/- 0.2 in female and 1.5 +/- 0.2 in male cadavers in resting position. Average tracheal length in male group was found to be significantly different in cadavers with body height equal or taller than 170 cm in comparison to cadavers with body height shorter than 170 cm (p <0.05). This study revealed that the average tracheal length in Turkish people is shorter than the reported length in literature. It is worth commenting that there is a considerable difference between the different races with regard to tracheal length. Tracheal length may vary with body height.