 [ Symptoms ] what is a tracheotomy [ Disease ] in medical terms the suffix “ otomy” means to cut or separate in a tracheotomy a surgeon cuts a small hole in the front of the trachea windpipe tracheotomy is most often performed on people who require weeks of mechanical ventilation dependence on a breathing machine tracheotomy is also performed in emergencies for choking for people with neck cancer as an extreme treatment for obstructive sleep apnea and for other less common conditions after the surgeon cuts through the skin and trachea she inserts a plastic tube into the hole this tube is called a tracheostomy tube “ ostomy” means an artificially created passage out of the body oftentimes the surgery and the tube itself are referred together simply as a tracheostomy