Maintenance of vital body functions, e.g. breathing and heartbeat, to sustain life.
A system involving equipment and procedures that provides all or some of the bodily functions necessary to maintain life. Life support may involve providing oxygen, nutrients, and water and eliminating carbon dioxide and other body wastes. The most commonly used form of life support is a ventilator, which is designed to breathe for a person with respiratory failure. Other forms of life support include nutrition and hydration provided through a tube surgically implanted in a person’s stomach or inserted into a vein.
The procedure of sustaining an individual’s life through artificial lung inflation and, if required, the preservation of a regular heartbeat.