cardiopulmonary resuscitation

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun An emergency procedure, often employed after cardiac arrest, in which cardiac massage, artificial respiration, and drugs are used to maintain the circulation of oxygenated blood to the brain.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun An emergency procedure to revive heart and lung function in persons whose heart has apparently stopped beating, involving forced respiration, periodic pressure on the heart by pushing on the chest, and sometimes electrical or mechanical equipment. It is often referred to by the acronym CPR.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun A first aid procedure for cardiac arrest involving compression of the chest wall alternating with artificial respiration.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun an emergency procedure consisting of external cardiac massage and artificial respiration; the first treatment for a person who has collapsed and has no pulse and has stopped breathing; attempts to restore circulation of the blood and prevent death or brain damage due to lack of oxygen