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open-heart surgery

American  
[oh-puhn-hahrt] / ˈoʊ pənˈhɑrt /

noun

  1. surgery performed on the exposed heart while a heart-lung machine pumps and oxygenates the blood and diverts it from the heart.

open-heart surgery British  

noun

  1. surgical repair of the heart during which the blood circulation is often maintained mechanically

"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
open-heart surgery Scientific  

  1. Surgery in which the thoracic cavity is opened to expose the heart and the blood is recirculated and oxygenated by a heart-lung machine.

Etymology

Origin of open-heart surgery

First recorded in 1975–80

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

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