OPEN-HEART SURGERY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does open-heart surgery mean? 

• OPEN-HEART SURGERY (noun)
  The noun OPEN-HEART SURGERY has 1 sense:

1. heart surgery in which the rib cage is spread open, the heart is stopped and blood is detoured through a heart-lung machine while a heart valve or coronary artery is surgically repaired

  Familiarity information: OPEN-HEART SURGERY used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• OPEN-HEART SURGERY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Heart surgery in which the rib cage is spread open, the heart is stopped and blood is detoured through a heart-lung machine while a heart valve or coronary artery is surgically repaired

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("open-heart surgery" is a kind of...):

heart surgery (any surgical procedure involving the heart)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "open-heart surgery"):

CABG; coronary artery bypass graft; coronary bypass; coronary bypass surgery (open-heart surgery in which the rib cage is opened and a section of a blood vessel is grafted from the aorta to the coronary artery to bypass the blocked section of the coronary artery and improve the blood supply to the heart)

 Context examples 

The only current treatment for stenosis is valve replacement, which typically requires risky and expensive open-heart surgery.

(New Hope for Stopping An Understudied Heart Disease in Its Tracks, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)