Tracheal cartilages (C-rings)
Cartilagines tracheales
RespiratoryOrgansWhole body
- What it is
- Eighteen horseshoe-shaped rings of hyaline cartilage embedded in the tracheal wall, open at the back where the trachea touches the oesophagus.
- Function
- Keep the airway from collapsing under the negative pressure of inspiration while leaving the posterior wall flexible.
- Size
- Each ring is about 4 mm high and 1 mm thick, joined to its neighbours by fibrous annular ligaments.
- Clinical note
- The rings often calcify with age; congenital complete "O-rings" are a cause of tracheal stenosis in infants.