"Dr. Zhao, the focus of treatment in the ward right now is on two patients who need stem cell therapy, right?"

Liu Meng asked again.

She, too, wanted to quickly get into a working state because she knew that joining Zhao Heng's ward was not like working in a regular inpatient hospital. In the area of treating difficult diseases, it could be said that Zhao Heng's ward had already become a key force at Eastern Hospital.

If an occasional patient with a difficult disease was cured, it might be considered a stroke of luck, but up to now, the patients handled by Zhao Heng were treated to the best of modern medical capabilities.

It could be said that no other doctor could do better than Zhao Heng.

As for what Zhao Heng cannot achieve, it is limited by the current level of medical technology.

"Yes, one needs a neural stem cell transplant to awaken, and the other has verrucous epidermal dysplasia and needs a full cortex reconstruction, requiring an epithelial stem cell transplant post-surgery."

Zhao Heng nodded and explained, satisfied with how quickly Liu Meng got into the work mode. It showed that there were indeed many capable people, but some just lacked a platform.

The saying 'gold always shines' doesn't quite apply in this era.

In modern times, acquiring knowledge is relatively easy, and the education everyone receives from a young age is similar. Therefore, even for graduates from the same schools and majors, while there may be differences, it's not to an unattainable degree.

In terms of clinical medicine, Zhao Heng's field, except for a few who slack off and fail courses frequently, the rest were quite similar in capability at graduation. Future development depends more on the platform they are on.

Starting in a community hospital versus a top-tier hospital leads to completely different developments ten years down the line.

Not even ten years—within just three years, due to differing platforms, significant disparities will emerge.

This highlights the importance of platforms.

"Treating these two patients with stem cell transplants is quite innovative."

Liu Meng said with full admiration.

To be honest, the current generation of young doctors have hardly introduced any innovation, with the main reason being one word—busy!

Not just busy, but extremely busy. Here's a simple figure to illustrate it. According to the latest data, in 2022, the daily outpatient volume of top-tier hospitals could reach as high as 42,000, which is an astonishing number.

This outpatient volume is three to five times that of equivalent foreign hospitals, or even ten times that of some countries with smaller populations.

Faced with such an overwhelming number of patients, doctors are basically inundated, with all their energy and time consumed by patient consultations, leaving no room for innovation and research.

"There's a strong need for innovation in modern medicine, especially in certain aspects of modern hospitals, which have already ventured into fallacies. Just in cancer treatment, for instance, pathways have already deviated."

"Simply put, every year there are as many as 3.5 million cancer patients in our country, and the cancer incidence rate is increasing year by year. As the population ages, the number of diagnosed cases will continue to rise, but the cure rate is just 25%. The biggest reason for this is the timing of detecting the lesion."

Zhao Heng sighed, for cancer, as the "king of diseases," is an unavoidable issue for doctors.

"Yes, my aunt is also a nurse, and she often says she wouldn't choose treatment if she got cancer. This professional healthcare personnel perspective indirectly shows that in our country, most cancer patients are already in the late stage when they see a doctor."

"For late-stage cancer patients, repeated invasive treatments bring extreme stress to their bodies and minds without eradicating cancer cells. This inevitably makes one feel like they're suffering for nothing, spending money and wasting precious last moments of life."

Talking about cancer, Liu Meng shared her thoughts empathically.

"In fact, there's an ultimate treatment method for cancer, but in recent years, certain people have sullied its name."

Zhao Heng sighed.

"Are you referring to immunotherapy, Dr. Zhao?"

Liu Meng asked.

"Yes, for cancer treatment, immunotherapy can be considered the holy grail for oncologists. It activates the body's immune cells to recognize and attack cancer cells, beautifully avoiding the toxic side effects of chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Yet this excellent treatment currently has an effectiveness rate of only 10% to 20%. Most regrettably, many fraudsters exploit patients' desire to survive, cherry-picking literature and exaggerating results to lure patients into paying."

"The incident involving that certain Wei person was a tragic result of scammers using immunotherapy as a facade, leaving him destitute and despairing."

Zhao Heng slowly stated.

"Are we planning to develop immunotherapy moving forward, Dr. Zhao?"

Understanding his subtle hints, Liu Meng easily perceived that Zhao Heng intended to challenge cancer, the toughest bone and the highest mountain in medicine.

"Combining stem cell cultivation and cell fate regulation can excellently cultivate modified immune cells, promising great prospects for cancer treatment."

Zhao Heng nodded. As a doctor, cancer is an unavoidable topic.

"If you really manage to develop an immunotherapy with over a 60% clinical success rate, Dr. Zhao, you could directly win the Nobel Prize in Medicine."

Hearing this from Zhao Heng, Liu Meng chuckled. If anyone else had said it, she might dismiss it as a mad fantasy, but coming from Zhao Heng, especially after he cured Sun Xinxin, it was much more convincing.

Moreover, everyone knows Zhao Heng's expertise in stem cell therapy is directly taught by Professor Li Hongwei from the Yanjing University School of Life Sciences. Professor Li Hongwei has recently developed EPS cells, and it seems that this year's National Science and Technology Award will undoubtedly go to him.

"It's difficult. Even at the Mayo Clinic, which conducts the most in-depth research on immunotherapy, the success rate is only 20%. Raising it to 60% is too challenging, practically crossing several generations of technological advancement."

Zhao Heng shook his head slightly.

Although people say 'where there's a will, there's a way,' in clinical terms, improving a treatment's success rate by even one percent is an impressive achievement, let alone going from 20% to 60%.

"It's all about human effort, and I believe one day Dr. Zhao can achieve that."

Liu Meng smiled and said, unsure why, but she had such confidence in Zhao Heng despite it sounding like a fantasy.

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