Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
open-heart surgery
noun
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ But how do you compare open-heart surgery over that time period?
▪ It was discovered in the cardiac intensive care unit where 10 children were recovering from open-heart surgery.
▪ None of us had reckoned on open-heart surgery.
▪ Sophia is grieving the loss of her sister, who died during open-heart surgery.
▪ When he was 15 months old, he had open-heart surgery.
WordNet
open-heart surgery
n. heart surgery in which the rib cage is spread open and surgery to fix a heart valve or repair a coronary artery is performed while the heart is stopped and blood is detoured through a heart-lung machine