heart-lung machine

[ hahrt-luhng ]

noun
  1. a device through which blood is shunted temporarily for oxygenation during surgery, while the heart or a lung is being repaired.

Origin of heart-lung machine

1
First recorded in 1955–60

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use heart-lung machine in a sentence

  • Doctors put the patient on a heart-lung machine before surgeons remove the heart—except for the back walls of the atria.

  • They're keeping a patient alive with a heart-lung machine right now, and they can't finish the job.

    Star Surgeon | Alan Nourse
  • Ten minutes later he rose from the control table and threw the switch to stop the heart-lung machine.

    Star Surgeon | Alan Nourse
  • Try to use local blocks as much as you can, and have the heart-lung machine ready well in advance.

    Star Surgeon | Alan Nourse

British Dictionary definitions for heart-lung machine

heart-lung machine

noun
  1. a machine used to maintain the circulation and oxygenation of the blood during heart surgery

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for heart-lung machine

heart-lung machine

  1. An apparatus through which blood is temporarily diverted, especially during heart surgery, in order to oxygenate and pump it, thus maintaining circulation.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.