A patient undergoing open-heart surgery is connected to a machine designed to temporarily take over the functions of heart and lungs. This allows the blood to be circulated and oxygenated outside the body. This process is called:

• A. Angioplasty.
• B. Extravascular circulation.
• C. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
• D. Extracorporeal circulation.

Answer: (D)

Verified step by step guidance

1. Step 1: Understand the context of the problem, which involves a machine taking over the functions of the heart and lungs during open-heart surgery to circulate and oxygenate blood outside the body.
2. Step 2: Review the given options and their meanings: Angioplasty is a procedure to open blocked blood vessels; Extravascular circulation refers to blood flow outside blood vessels, which is not a standard term; Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is an emergency procedure to manually preserve brain function during cardiac arrest.
3. Step 3: Recognize that the process described involves circulating blood outside the body through a machine, which is a key feature of extracorporeal circulation.
4. Step 4: Define extracorporeal circulation as the technique of diverting blood outside the body to a heart-lung machine that oxygenates and pumps it back, allowing surgeons to operate on a still heart.
5. Step 5: Conclude that the correct term for this process is 'extracorporeal circulation' based on the definition and context provided.