The next day.

Eight twenty.

Inside the anesthesia department office.

As soon as Zhao Heng entered the office, he picked up the schedule on the desk for a look.

Today is an all-purpose shift, which means being a firefighter, going wherever there's a problem to provide support.

Generally, only relatively senior and experienced doctors can handle this.

Speaking of which, during this period, most of the time Zhao Heng is on duty, it is the all-purpose shift, with only a few scheduled surgeries each day, and the rest of the time is spent consulting in various departments.

Just then, Nurse Tian Zhen walked in and said to Zhao Heng, "Dr. Zhao, there's a consultation in the oncology department, and they want you to come over."

"Oncology department? Hmm, I understand."

Zhao Heng was a bit puzzled; consultations from the oncology department were relatively rare, but he still nodded.

This nurse, Tian Zhen, is known as the nurse specifically responsible for coordinating consultations in the anesthesia department, a job many nurses envy. To be blunt, coordinating this work is just being a go-between.

In a little while, Zhao Heng arrived at the oncology department.

Upon entering the doctor's office, Zhao Heng immediately noticed that the atmosphere in the oncology department was completely different from other departments.

How to put it?

There was a very solemn feeling, probably because many patients in the oncology department are terminal cancer patients.

As soon as he arrived, the attending physician Li Haiyang stood and greeted Zhao Heng, "Dr. Zhao, you're finally here."

"Hmm."

Zhao Heng nodded.

However, Zhao Heng had heard Li Haiyang say this frequently recently.

"We invited Dr. Zhao for a consultation today because we have a terminal liver cancer patient who needs intrathecal pain management,"

Attending physician Li Haiyang stated bluntly.

"Intrathecal pain management?"

Upon hearing Li Haiyang say this, Zhao Heng was a bit surprised.

One has to mention the treatment of pain in terminal cancer, as everyone knows, in the late stage of cancer, the patient's pain increases daily.

Initially, oral analgesics can suppress the pain; next, a nerve block procedure is needed, and finally, when even the nerve block procedure cannot control the pain, it requires an anesthesiologist to perform intrathecal pain management device implantation.

It can be said that the implantation of an intrathecal pain management device is the last resort.

The application range of anesthesia far exceeds general knowledge, not limited merely to surgical use.

Pain management is less known because when an anesthesiologist is required to intervene, it is often in cases of terminal cancer pain.

"Yes, before, this patient underwent two celiac plexus destruction procedures, but the pain symptoms did not significantly relieve, so now we probably only have intrathecal pain management left,"

Li Haiyang sighed and said.

As an oncologist, Li Haiyang finds each day's work very depressing.

Just think, most of the patients faced every day are in the late stage of cancer, with days numbered.

For many terminal cancer patients, the main treatment is actually pain relief.

"Is the patient's condition complicated?"

Zhao Heng thought for a moment and asked.

If the condition wasn't complicated, it's unlikely they would have asked him to come.

Intrathecal pain management involves directly administering analgesics into the spinal canal, similar to clinical puncture anesthesia, which general anesthesiologists can perform.

"The patient's spinal tumor mass has invaded most of the lumbar vertebrae, making puncture very difficult,"

Li Haiyang explained slowly.

"Has it spread to the spine?"

Upon hearing Li Haiyang's words, Zhao Heng was somewhat surprised, as it is well known that in terminal cancer, cancer cells spread throughout the body. The wider the spread, the less time the patient has left.

The spread to the spine indicates the patient only has a few months left.

"Yes,"

Li Haiyang nodded heavily, a weight every doctor in the oncology department experiences and feels every day.

"What do the patient's family say?"

Zhao Heng asked again.

Intrathecal pain management is not a one-time procedure with lasting effectiveness.

In the case of this patient, pain was not controllable even with opioids before the nerve destruction procedure, and now intrathecal pain management is the last resort.

As the last means of alleviating cancer patient's pain, intrathecal pain management is rarely used, not because it is ineffective, but because of its high cost.

The intrathecal pain management device has one end of a silicone catheter, implanted into the subarachnoid space through puncture, exiting the spinal canal and fixed in the subcutaneous path.

The catheter connects to a programmable subcutaneous abdominal pump, which administers morphine in patterns set according to the patient's pain characteristics, delivering morphine directly to the cerebrospinal fluid for efficient use.

Without mentioning, the programmable subcutaneous computerized pump implanted in the patient's abdomen is extremely expensive and can only be imported.

"The family agreed, but the patient himself does not want to undergo this treatment,"

Li Haiyang sighed and said.

Many dilemmas exist in the treatment of terminal cancer.

The most critical is the ethical dilemma.

As it is known, many terminal cancer patients are beyond cure, with limited time left.

In limited time, determining the extent of treatment gradually evolves from a medical issue to an ethical one.

For many families of terminally ill cancer patients, a "double loss" of life and money situation often arises.

"The patient wants to leave some money for the family, right?"

Zhao Heng immediately understood; it was surely such a case because this situation had happened countless times in the hospital.

"Yes, many patients in our department have this idea, unwilling to continue treatment to lessen the burden on their families."

Li Haiyang nodded and said.

"Dr. Zhao, regarding this matter, the family approached me. Their intention is for us to describe this treatment as a very normal and ordinary one. That way, the patient might accept it,"

Li Haiyang paused, somewhat troubled and said.

"A well-intentioned lie?"

Zhao Heng thought for a moment and said.

"Exactly, the family cannot bear to watch the patient endure the torment of late-stage liver cancer pain any longer, but the patient himself is quite stubborn, so this is the only way,"

Li Haiyang said somewhat helplessly.

Liver cancer is called the king of cancers because the pain torment in the late stages is the worst among all cancers.

How to describe it, it's a kind of pain torment unimaginable to ordinary people.

Statistics show that in about a month after diagnosis, 60% of late-stage liver cancer patients have thoughts of suicide.

The reason being, they don't want to face the extremely terrifying pain ordeal of late-stage liver cancer daily.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.