adequate exposure of the surgical field

Question

What is meant by "adequate exposure of the surgical field" is this sentence:

During cardiac surgery, it is necessary to aspirate blood from the cardiac chambers to provide adequate exposure of the surgical field.

Thanks.

Answer 1

It simply means visually exposing the tissues the surgeon needs to operate on. For example, if the surgeon needs to cut or suture inside one of the chambers and it's full of blood, they would be unable to see the tissue they're working on; therefore, they expose the surgical field by aspirating (suctioning out) the blood blocking their view.

https://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/surgical+field