Surgery Godfather-Chapter 407 - 0379 Fifteen Years Ago

Chapter 407: Chapter 0379: Fifteen Years Ago

Chapter 407: Chapter 0379: Fifteen Years Ago

Director Fu of the Department of Neurosurgery and Director Wei of the Department of Oncology at Mo Sixth Hospital also raised their hands in agreement, and after a moment of consideration, Hong Zhigang also raised his hand in agreement.

Seeing that the three main experts at their hospital had raised their hands, Dean Chen and Director Peng also expressed their support, leaving others with no choice but to follow suit.

Hong Zhigang, Director Fu, and Director Wei are all major members of Professor Feng’s medical expert group.

The three all have doctorates from Europe and America and are experts in top domestic hospitals; Hong Zhigang is also a candidate for the newly added academician.

One can get a sense of Yang Ping’s skill level from his surgical plan, even if it is not immediately obvious.

Sanbo’s research on surgery for upper cervical spine and brainstem tumors has already placed them at the forefront, both nationally and globally.

The professional level that Yang Ping displayed in his surgical explanation just now is far above that of the others, to whom he is genuinely impressive.

Given that the old man has been insisting on surgery and now there is an 80% success rate with the full support of the three American experts, there is every reason to strive for it.

Professor Feng has already written a power of attorney letter stating that all his medical decisions will be made by Hong Zhigang, and that Hong Zhigang will also sign off on the final surgery.

In Hong Zhigang’s opinion, although there is an 80% theoretical probability of success, the actual success rate won’t be that high.

Who can guarantee that the surgical operation won’t deviate from an error margin of 0.1 mm throughout the process? A slight tremor of the hand holding the scalpel, and a mistake will occur.

There are several continuous operations where cardiac arrest occurs. When it happens once, it needs to be resuscitated once. After the successful recovery, the surgery continues, and then it happens again, and resuscitation is needed again–

If cardiac arrest occurs several times consecutively and even one time isn’t resuscitated in time, the heart will stop beating forever.

The entire tumor not only invades the center of life but also intertwines with base of the skull blood vessels and nerves. A mistake in any place would have unimaginable consequences.

However, no matter how high the risk, given the current situation, Hong Zhigang is prepared to throw caution to the wind.

Seeing such talent being cultivated by his junior brother Han, Hong Zhigang sighed regretfully in his heart.

As he remembered the past, Hong Zhigang let out a sigh and felt a hidden pain in his heart.

Fifteen years ago, during a surgery for cervical myelopathy, Hong Zhigang was the chief surgeon and Han Jiangong was the first assistant. When the operation was nearing completion and the post-route window decompression and rod placement had been performed, one of the rods was not fully inserted. At this point, a specialized rod press should be used to push the rod down to the best position.

But since the operation was about to end and Hong Zhigang happened to have a periosteal separator in his hand, he didn’t think twice and tried to push the rod down with the periosteal separator for convenience. The periosteal separator slipped on the metal rod and directly scratched towards the exposed cervical dural sac. The force used to push the rod instantly bruised the cervical spinal cord.

As the surgery was nearing completion, another assistant was discussing instrumentation issues with operating table, so none of the others noticed this operation, only Han Jiangong did. He wanted to stop it, but it was too late. In his haste, Han Jiangong stretched out his hand to block Hong Zhigang’s wrist, which buffered some of the force of the periosteal separator, although it still bruised the cervical spinal cord.

Hong Zhigang was extremely nervous. This kind of mistake could cause quadriparesis. Han Jiangong suggested reporting to Professor Feng, but Hong Zhigang refused.

After the surgery, Hong Zhigang privately revealed to the other assistant that Han Jiangong had bruised the cervical cord with the periosteal separator during the surgery, potentially causing quadriparesis. Because Professor Feng had plans to promote Han Jiangong, Hong Zhigang chose to conceal instead of reporting, fearing such a report would be construed as a deliberate smear.

This assistant was a junior doctor to Hong Zhigang, who, feeling the severity of the situation and dissatisfaction with Han Jiangong due to the problem of succession, immediately reported to Professor Feng that Han Jiangong had made a mistake during the operation, injuring the cervical cord with the periosteal separator. To get Professor Feng to believe him, the assistant said he had witnessed it all with his own eyes.

As expected, the patient developed quadriparesis after surgery. Before surgery, his limbs were only slightly weakened, but now he had full paralysis, which was a big deal.

Professor Feng was furious and interrogated each participant in the operation, investigating the process.

When he talked to Han Jiangong alone, Han Jiangong did not deny it, nor did he rebut; he admitted that he had made a mistake.

A mistake? Using a periosteal separator to push down a rod?

Professor Feng slapped Han Jiangong on the spot.

Without uttering a word, Han Jiangong resigned and left Shanghai, even giving up the then-ongoing Golden Knife Award competition.

At the time, Hong Zhigang merely wanted to use this incident to put his junior brother in difficulty and make him lose the qualification to compete for the position of department director. But he did not expect that he would resign and leave directly.

Afterwards, Professor Feng was very disappointed in Han Jiangong, who also became a stranger to his senior brother.

Looking back, Hong Zhigang felt extremely ashamed. He had, after all, done something wrong with a guilty conscience, and had been having restless nights for years since.

“Since everyone agrees, then let’s decide on the surgery.” Hong Zhigang made the decision.

Professor Zhang was rather satisfied with Hong Zhigang’s performance, at least he did not let personal grudges obstruct Professor Feng’s treatment.

Professor Zhang suggested, “Shall we go see Professor Feng?”

Since the surgery has been decided, it is a requisite of the consultation process to see the patient before the process.

Director Peng immediately contacted ICU to arrange for Yang Ping to see Professor Feng.

“Dr. Yang, may I copy your surgical video?” Woodhead immediately approached him.

Yang Ping readily agreed, and Woodhead immediately took out a hard drive from his bag and handed it to the officer: “Hello, could you help me copy the surgical video onto this hard drive?”

Zeng Ran and Mu Jun had just finished their surgery and came to find Hong Zhigang. As Wen Rentao was about to compete, Hong Zhigang needed Zeng Ran to assist him with many tasks.

Yang Ping?

Zeng Ran was surprised to see Yang Ping walking out of the meeting room, surrounded by three American professors.

Yang Ping was his idol. Since he saw Yang Ping’s surgery at the academic conference, Zeng Ran had admired him greatly. Now, seeing Yang Ping suddenly made him even more excited, just like a fan encountering his idol star.

“Who is this?” Mu Jun asked Zeng Ran.

“This is Yang Ping from Sanbo—” Zeng Ran quickly approached.

“Dr. Yang, hello.” Zeng Ran greeted enthusiastically.

Yang Ping didn’t recognize him, but he politely shook hands with him: “Hello!”

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“I’m Zeng Ran from Mo Sixth, I’ve seen your surgery at last year’s academic conference and learned a lot.” Zeng Ran introduced himself.

After the polite handshake, Yang Ping was pulled by the three Americans asking questions, and they walked toward the ICU together.

“What is he doing in our hospital?” Mu Jun watched the departing expert team.

“I just arrived and I’m not sure what’s going on.” Zeng Ran really didn’t know, he was still a bit confused.

He guessed that Yang Ping came with Professor Zhang and was related to Professor Feng’s condition, as this was a consultation meeting for Professor Feng.

Despite the decision being made, the sudden change left Hong Zhigang a bit stunned. He accompanied Professor Zhang and followed Director Peng to the ICU.

Since Han Jiangong left Mo Sixth, Professor Zhang had always felt something was wrong and thought that Hong Zhigang was causing trouble, so he was not very friendly to Hong Zhigang, and all Hong Zhigang could do was accept it.

Professor Zhang’s students and Junior Brother Han have arrived, that meant Junior Brother should have arrived in Shanghai. Hong Zhigang didn’t feel right asking.

Professor Zhang asked Hong Zhigang: “Did Professor Feng say anything to you?”

Hong Zhigang was taken aback and stuttered: “Teacher Zhang, what do you mean?”

“Do I need to spell it out?” Professor Zhang glared at him, and Hong Zhigang’s face instantly turned red.

The group of people arrived at the ICU. Because of the need to control the number of people entering the ICU, Professor Zhang, Yang Ping, Hong Zhigang, Director Fu, Director Wei, and the three American professors went in. Dean Chen, Director Peng, and others waited in the ICU doctor’s office.

Professor Feng was sedated, requiring a ventilator to assist with his breathing, but his heartbeat could still be maintained at around fifty times per minute.

This respected senior who had dedicated his life to medicine, was now lying in the ICU. Professor Zhang held his old colleague’s hand and said: “He knew that the success rate of the surgery was close to zero, but he has always been advocating for the operation. He requested that if the surgery failed, he should be dissected for research to let everyone gain surgical experience. He has already put his life and death out of consideration and completely treats himself as an experimental subject for everyone.”

This was the mentor in Director Han’s heart. This respectable senior was so thin, covered in various tubes, his chest rising and falling with the positive pressure ventilation of the respirator.

Yang Ping took a tablet from the ICU director and looked at the medical results step by step. Although John Ansen couldn’t read Chinese, he could understand the English abbreviations of the medical indicators: “Respiratory and circulatory centers are already disordered, compensatory ability has been exhausted, and it is feared that he will have difficulty getting off the ventilator this time.”

“He can still be taken off the machine this time. This is a tug of war between the compensation and decompensation of the life control center. After using the ventilator for a few days, the feedback mechanism of the respiratory center will be reestablished and it will be possible to get off the machine again. If he survives the second crisis and the only regulatory ability of the respiratory and circulation centers is exhausted, if it happens a third time, I’m afraid he won’t be able to get off the machine, then his heartbeat will gradually slow down until it stops.” Yang Ping’s opinion differed from John Ansen’s.

These data came from his pathological anatomy research in system space and was very accurate, accurate enough to predict the day of leaving the ventilator.

“After getting off the machine, the patient’s tolerance for surgery will peak within 24 to 48 hours. This is the golden time for surgery.”

When Yang Ping simulated the surgery, he conducted simulations under different conditions. The golden time for surgery was 24 to 48 hours after getting off the machine, during this period, the success rate of surgery is the highest.

“That makes sense. It’s like a battery that, even though it’s depleted, as long as it receives even a bit of charge, it can maintain for a little while.” John Ansen agreed with Yang Ping’s perspective.

The ICU director told Hong Zhigang: “We don’t know if we can get him off the machine this time, or how long he’ll last even if we do. You need to make a decision as soon as possible.”

Hong Zhigang looked at his emaciated mentor, his chest rising and falling with the ventilator, he felt as though a knife was twisting in his heart: “We have decided to operate. Be ready. As soon as there is a chance to get off the machine, operate immediately after 24 hours off the ventilator.”

Unexpectedly, in the end, it is the apprentice who could lend support at this time.

Back then, he was determined to compete for the position of department director. He was foolish and wronged his apprentice. Now he really feels ashamed to face his apprentice.