What is a Heart lung machine? - Dr. Raghavendra Chikkatur

Heart lung machine is used in open heart surgery, in this the blood vessels which carry the veins return to the heart are connected to the heart lung machine using a tube what we call as the Venus pipes from here blood goes into the reservoir oxygenated, warmed up and returns back into the tube to iota which supplies blood to all parts of the body most importantly the brain. This machine is used in heart lung surgery first it was used in 1953 by john, since then it has undergone many modifications and currently we use membrane oxygenator in this machine, it consists of the pump heads and membrane oxygenator which also has heat ex-changer.