surgical operation, surgical procedure, surgical process, surgery, operation - a medical procedure involving an incision with instruments; performed to repair damage or arrest disease in a living body; "they will schedule the operation as soon as an operating room is available"; "he died while undergoing surgery"

closed-heart surgery - heart surgery in which a small incision is made (the chest cavity is not opened)

open-heart surgery - 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