 The first detailed descriptions of tracheal intubation and subsequent artificial respiration of animals were from Andreas Vesalius ( 1514 – 1564 ) of Brussels . In his landmark book published in 1543 , De humani corporis fabrica , he described an experiment in which he passed a reed into the trachea of a dying animal whose thorax had been opened and maintained ventilation by blowing into the reed intermittently . Antonio Musa Brassavola ( 1490 – 1554 ) of Ferrara successfully treated a patient suffering from peritonsillar abscess by tracheotomy . Brassavola published his account in 1546 ; this operation has been identified as the first recorded successful tracheotomy , despite the many previous references to this operation . Towards the end of the 16th century , Hieronymus Fabricius ( 1533 – 1619 ) described a useful technique for tracheotomy in his writings , although he had never actually performed the operation himself . Fabricius was the first to introduce the idea of a tracheostomy tube . In 1620 the French surgeon Nicholas Habicot ( 1550 – 1624 ) published a report of four successful tracheotomies . In 1714 , anatomist Georg Detharding ( 1671 – 1747 ) of the University of Rostock performed a tracheotomy on a drowning victim . 
