Chapter 156: Is the Surgery Doomed?
“What surgery is it?” Zheng Ren was surprised. The first in the world? That was unexpected.
“Prostatic artery embolization,” answered Old Chief Physician Pan happily.
Prostate… Was that even something essential?
Zheng Ren’s initial excitement instantly dissipated into thin air.
“Little comrade, what kind of expression is that?” asked Old Chief Physician Pan, his face serious.
“Nothing.” Zheng Ren lowered his head and quickly changed his clothes.
“Think about it, our old comrades have given their all for the establishment of The People’s Republic of China. Shouldn’t they at least have a better quality of life?” asked Old Chief Physician Pan grimly.
Zheng Ren knew his words made sense. Elderly men usually had severe prostatic hyperplasia, a condition worse than death.
Instead of ordinary soft urinary catheters, a metal urethral sound had to be forced upward through the prostate into the bladder.
When dealing with ruffians feigning death in the emergency department, a few inductions of urinary urgency were enough to break their determination, let alone a urethral sound.
“There isn’t any major blood supply to the prostate,” Zheng Ren said hesitantly, recalling its anatomy.
“No, but it has a dense capillary network.” Old Chief Physician Pan had obviously done his homework. “Especially in patients with severe prostatic hyperplasia, the capillaries are larger and thicker, so the usage of prostatic artery embolization is justified.”
Huh… Zheng Ren was still confused. Despite his doubts, he would still attend the scientific research in Imperial Capital. After all, Professor Pei and Old Chief Physician Pan only wanted the best for him.
Locating an abnormal blood supply to a hepatic carcinoma was difficult enough, let alone the prostate.
Zheng Ren quickly finished changing his attire and darted out of the locker room. “I’m going to put on a lead apron.”
Old Chief Physician Pan smiled and shook his head.
Zheng Ren sighed in relief after putting on the lead apron with radioactive energy conversion properties from the System.
Upon reaching the interventional radiology suite, Su Yun had already draped the surgical site and was chatting with Zheng Yunxia.
During interventional radiological treatment for hepatic carcinoma, local anesthesia would be administered near the femoral artery at the base of the thigh before the artery was catheterized.
Like cannulating a vein, this could be considered the most minimally invasive surgery, and manipulation relied solely on the surgeon’s skills.
Of course, there were also disadvantages, one of them being prolonged radiation exposure. Patents were usually unaffected as surgery would be completed in one hour, and that would probably be the end of it.
However, there was a high chance that surgeons had to perform multiple interventional radiology-assisted surgeries in a day, which meant incredible amounts of radiation exposure.
Fortunately, Zheng Ren needed not worry about this issue as he had awesome equipment from the System.
Upon noticing Zheng Ren, Su Yun asked, “Shall I catheterize the artery?”
“Sure.” Zheng Ren nodded and began his preparations: performing a surgical scrub, disinfecting his hands and putting on a surgical gown.
The catheterization was complete when he approached the operating table. The introducer sheath was neatly placed, and the micro-guidewire was already ten centimeters into the artery. Su Yun quietly held the guidewire in the assistant’s position and waited for Zheng Ren to begin.
‘It’s nice to have a surgical assistant,’ Zheng Ren thought again.
The livestream in Xinglin Garden began at the same time.
[The god has rarely broadcasted his surgery recently, do you guys know why?]
[A lack of new surgical patients, maybe? After all, it’s boring to watch the same surgery broadcast over and over again.]
[That’s right. There are video recordings of past surgeries as well.]
[Didn’t you notice that all video recordings disappeared three days ago? We have to pay attention to future surgery broadcasts as the god won’t impart any knowledge for free.]
[What, why didn’t I notice it? Fortunately, I’ve downloaded his previous surgery broadcasts. Is the god planning to sell surgery recordings?]
Every viewer gradually became familiar with each other as comments whizzed past the screen in the live broadcast room. The more fast-firing were obviously junior doctors, but nobody knew if there was a mogul behind them.
[This is… What the f*ck, it’s a hepatic carcinoma!]
[What’s so surprising about it? Interventional radiological treatment for hepatic carcinoma is rarely seen but not unprecedented.]
[Indeed, interventional radiology is one of the most effective treatments for hepatic carcinoma, and radiofrequency ablation is said to have the same effect as surgical resection.]
[It’s a pity that small hospitals don’t have interventional radiology departments. After watching the god’s recent surgeries, I’ve the urge to learn interventional radiology now.]
[You have to wear a lead apron that weighs between fifteen to twenty kilograms while maintaining your accuracy. Can you do that? Young man, stop daydreaming and focus your attention on general surgery. It has a bright future too.]
As comments overwhelmed the screen, the host surgeon was blindly inserting the microcatheter, which was a boring procedure.
Soon, the screen changed to the surgeon’s point of view, and angiographic footage appeared.
[Huh? Something is wrong.]
Unless there was an unforeseen event, viewers generally did not comment after the surgery began as some parts on the screen, especially delicate manipulations that were often the essence of the surgery, would be blocked and viewer experience would be debilitated.
However, as soon as the angiographic footage was broadcast, a lone comment flew past the screen.
The ID name clearly stated that the commenter was an interventional radiologist.
Someone recognized the ID as the interventional radiologist who had complained that everyone did not understand the pain of an interventional surgeon.
Luckily, he had taken the rarer career pathway of an interventional radiologist. If an ordinary general surgeon put the corresponding label on his ID… They would still be indistinguishable from the others.
[What happened? Please enlighten us.]
[I don’t see… What the f*ck, isn’t this a surgery for hepatic carcinoma? Why is the host surgeon targeting the short gastric artery?]
[Am I hallucinating? Is he going to embolize the short gastric artery and perform a laparotomy for gastrectomy afterward?]
Following the insertion of the micro-guidewire, not only were the interventional radiologists caught in a trance, but the general surgeons also felt that something was wrong.
Everyone knew basic anatomy and the normal vasculature pathways.
Logically, the host surgeon should embolize the branches of the hepatic artery that were supplying the hepatic tumor, right? Why was he heading straight toward the short gastric artery?
[Hey, interventional radiologist, please explain if the embolization of a short gastric artery will have any detrimental effect on the body. Is it the same as the uterine artery?]
The advancement of the micro-guidewire fueled viewers’ doubts even further.
Since this surgery was all Greek to them, they started throwing questions at the interventional radiologist one after another.
[Unlike the uterus, once the short gastric artery is embolized, the stomach will undergo ischemic necrosis shortly after. As for the consequences, the necrosed stomach will have to be surgically removed!]
The interventional radiologist used an exclamation mark at the end of the sentence, which was a rare sight.
Considering one to be inadequate, he added three more exclamation marks at the end to express his deepest consternation.
If this was the account’s first livestream, it would be concluded that the host surgeon was a novice and the surgery doomed.
However, after observing hundreds of surgery broadcasts in the past few weeks, those who had doubted this account had been mercilessly humiliated.
Now, no one dared to even suggest that the host surgeon had f*cked up as anyone who had done so had received a loud slap to the cheek within three minutes.
[What does the god have in mind?]
[I don’t know…]
[Let’s watch quietly. I’ve absolute confidence in the god.]
The comments were few, and the atmosphere in the live broadcast room gradually fell to silence.