life-support system
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
- Noun:
- Medical equipment that assists or replaces vital bodily functions: A system of medical devices and technologies designed to sustain a patient's life when their own organs cannot function adequately on their own.
- Equipment that makes life possible in hostile environments: A system that provides necessary environmental conditions, such as breathable air, water, and temperature control, to sustain life in an otherwise uninhabitable setting, such as space or underwater.
Usage Examples
- Noun:
- The critically ill patient was connected to a life-support system.
- The spacecraft's life-support system recycles air and water for the crew.
Advanced Usage
- "to be on a life-support system": To be dependent on medical machinery to stay alive.
- After the accident, he was on a life-support system for two weeks.
- "to rely on a life-support system": To depend on environmental equipment for survival.
- During the spacewalk, the astronaut relied entirely on the suit's life-support system.
Variants and Related Words
- Life support (noun, often used as a modifier): The general concept or the act of providing such support.
- The hospital has a dedicated life support unit.
- Life-sustaining (adjective): Describing treatment or equipment that maintains life.
- The family made the difficult decision to withdraw life-sustaining treatment.
Synonyms
- Medical context: Artificial life support, life-sustaining treatment, ventilator support (for specific functions).
- Environmental context: Environmental control and life support system (ECLSS), life-preserving equipment.
Related Phrases
- To withdraw life support: To discontinue the use of life-sustaining medical equipment.
- The ethics committee discussed the protocol for when to withdraw life support.
- Life-support module: A specific unit or component of a larger system that provides life support.
- The damaged life-support module had to be repaired immediately.
Noun
- medical equipment that assists or replaces important bodily functions and so enables a patient to live who otherwise might not survive
- the patient is on life support
- equipment that makes life possible in otherwise deadly environmental conditions
- the astronauts relied on their life-support systems