Patent ID: 7846122

Claim:
A heart-lung machine for providing an extracorporeal blood circuit, comprising: at least one base module having a control device; a patient module releasably connected to the base module and having blood-conducting components of the extracorporeal blood circuit disposed thereon; and pivot means that are provided at one of the base module and the patient module for pivoting the patient module relative to the base module about a horizontal axis from a filling position into an operating position, the blood-conducting components comprising a blood reservoir, a centrifugal pump head, an oxygenator, and a filter, said blood-conducting components being mounted on the patient module to be pivotable together therewith, whereby the positions and orientations of individual components of the extracorporeal blood circuit are such that air bubbles which cannot escape from the extracorporeal blood circuit when the patient module is in the filling position can be removed from the circuit when the patient module is in the operating position through venting lines; wherein the centrifugal pump head has a central inlet and a tangential outlet and is arranged in the patient module such that the inlet is oriented vertically upwardly in the filling position and horizontally in the operating position and the outlet is arranged at the bottommost position of the centrifugal pump head in the operating position.