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heart-lung machine

heart-lung machine

3 5.1
A machine used during heart surgery that pumps and adds oxygen to the blood
  • noun
  • /hɑrt lʌŋ məˈʃin/
  • Specialized
translation icon : máquina corazón-pulmón
  • The surgeon explained that the heart-lung machine would oxygenate the blood and maintain circulation during the operation.
  • patient on a heart-lung machine
  • use of the heart-lung machine

And so he said we have to devise a heart lung machine.

Examples

  • During the surgery, the team used a heart-lung machine to keep the patient alive while they repaired her heart.

  • And this is what the first heart lung machine looks like.

  • Well, we're gonna put her on a heart lung machine.

  • Do you know what a heart-lung machine is, Peter?"

    Fiction book (2000)
  • A young boy is on the bed, his body tied by tubes to a heart-lung machine.

    Fiction book (2002)
  • Heart-lung machines are being universally applied.

  • Heroic measures would be things like respirators, heart-lung machines, etc.

    Blog text (8)
  • After the patient was sedated, doctors connected him to the heart-lung machine, which would take over the heart's functions.

How Life-Sustaining

artificial heart
  • Specialized
9 6.0
heart-lung machine
  • Specialized
3 5.1
life support
  • Specialized
42 3.4
ventilator
  • Specialized
38 4.6
oxygen mask
15 3.4

Surface Forms

Morphology

heart-lung + machine

The compound is transparently built from the names of the organs ('heart' + 'lung') plus 'machine', so a learner who knows those words can infer it is a device that performs the functions of the heart and lungs. The pattern 'X machine' (a machine that does X) is common and cross-linguistically parallel, so the overall meaning is immediately derivable for a B1 learner.

Etymology

Heart-lung machine is named for what it does: a machine that acts as both the heart and the lungs during surgery. Imagine a box that pumps blood and adds oxygen while surgeons operate; that's why it means 'to take over the work of the heart and lungs' during surgery.