Topic summary
Heart-lung machine
Extracted from the Wikipedia article Cardiopulmonary bypass.
Cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) or heart-lung machine, also called the pump or CPB pump, is a machine, operated by a cardiac perfusionist, that temporarily takes over the function of the heart and lungs during open-heart surgery by maintaining the circulation of blood and oxygen throughout the body. As such it is an extracorporeal device.