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  • The tracheal position also indicates the apex beat position.
  • The normal position of trachea is slight deviation towards the right

Methods to examine tracheal position.

Method 1

  • Stand in front of the patient.
  • Make sure the patient is sitting or standing and never lying down
  • Gently palpate the cricoid cartilage with your finger and run it downwards to the suprasternal notch and assess

Method 2

  • The other method is to palpate the space between sternomastoid muscle and trachea. The space can be made prominent by asking the patient to look towards one side.
  • The angle feels narrowed in the side there is trachea deviation.

Conditions with trachea shift to same side of lesion

  • Fibrosis of lung
  • Collapse of lung

Trachea shift to opposite of lesion

  • Pleural effusion
  • Pneumothorax
  • Hydropneumothorax
  • Empyema

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