Chapter 164: Race Against Time Part I

Disappointment bubbled in the audience when they found out the surgery livestream was no longer recorded. Regardless of the outcome, the surgeries broadcast on this site were worth a thousand replays.

[Hybrid procedures… I’ve only heard of them.]

[At least you’ve heard of them. I had to search on Baidu to find out what they were.]

[I think only Class Three Grade A Hospitals in major cities have hybrid operating suites and most of them are newly-built. Union, Fuwai and West China[1] only had their hybrid operating rooms after the expansion.]

Comments were sparse as most doctors were focused on the ongoing surgery.

A pair of steady hands appeared onscreen—they crossed over occasionally to manipulate their instruments. The right hand was coaxing the guide wire into the patient’s blood vessel at an impressive speed. Within a minute, the livestream changed to the display on the surgeon’s screen.

The guide wire was in place and the guide catheter followed its path. Moments later, imaging began.

There was no arterial superselection. Based on the livestream, contrast agent was administered at the main branch of the artery.

Was this an error in judgment? Or was there a reason?

The pressure injector delivered a dose of contrast agent into the artery. Zheng Ren paid close attention to the forming image.

This was the only method to identify the hemorrhage site.

It was the most viable option. He would rather spend a bit more time at the start of the surgery to identify the exact location than botch the surgery.

10 seconds passed…

20 seconds passed…

The X-ray imaging system hummed to life. As time trickled by, the contrast agent in the patient’s body bloomed on the imaging display.

There!

Zheng Ren spotted the source of hemorrhage.

It was the left gastric artery.

Zheng Ren and Su Yun quickly put away the scatter drapes used in interventional radiology and started to reapply the sterile surgical drapes over the patient’s body in preparation for the laparotomy.

Xinglin Garden was full of confused doctors.

[Pancreatic pseudocyst? It’s a pretty rare disease. What was the surgeon looking at just now?]

[No idea.]

[The surgeon was searching for the site of hemorrhage. Judging from the drape placement, it should be the left gastric artery. The patient’s low blood pressure resulted in a blurry contrast image, which means that the surgeon must have ample experience detecting hemorrhaging under X-ray.]

[Man… The experience one needs to perform such surgeries. The patient’s blood pressure is almost undetectable and the heart rate is at 160 beats per minute with signs of atrial fibrillation. The heart might be giving up. The thought of such emergency surgeries makes my head hurt.]

[Why doesn’t the surgeon just embolize the bleed?]

[Brother, this is the left gastric artery. Embolizing it will cause a good part of the stomach to necrotize. If the embolic agent travels to the superior mesenteric artery, blood flow to the colon would be affected. It would basically kill the patient.]

[They’re starting a laparotomy? What are they attempting? In my hospital, we would go for a laparotomy to search for the bleed… It’s down to luck whether we get to it in time.]

[That’s not too bad. I spent half a year in imperial Capital and saw a few hybrid surgeries but none were as pressing as this.]

Comments were popping up frantically in the livestream. The patient’s rising heart rate and falling blood pressure were a source of suspense for every viewer.

Every doctor in the audience had personal experience in the chaos and magnitude of emergency rescue. They watched the livestream with rapt attention, their hearts beating in sync with the patient’s as their palms began to sweat.

The nervousness made people want to chat more.

The tension in the operating room would be too stifling otherwise.

It was a habit cultivated by many surgeons over the years.

…

In Sea City General Hospital, the hybrid surgery was in progress.

Zheng Ren tore off his sterile scrubs to remove his lead vest. He ordered an incision at the left lateral edge of the rectus abdominis and proceeded to scrub his hands.

Zheng Ren had only been briefly exposed to pancreatic surgery in the System. He had not undergone any intensive training on this front.

The discovery of the tetradecapeptide, somatostatin, had ensured near-total recovery from acute and chronic pancreatitis.

Medicinal treatment was found to be more efficacious than surgery. Who would be willing to risk their lives on the operating table when there was a better alternative?

Therefore, Zheng Ren had neglected learning pancreatic surgery in the System.

Luckily, he had been hoarding all his skill and experience points like a squirrel caching for winter.

Although the System had been tight-fisted with new missions, Zheng Ren had enough experience points saved up for a rainy day.

While washing his hands, Zheng Ren entered the System to return the special lead vest and check on his stores.

In the past few weeks, he had accomplished surgeries that contributed to the progress of the main mission. His general surgery skill level was at 3246 points. He had another 2025 skill points at his disposal.

Without hesitation, Zheng Ren allocated 1742 points into the general surgery skill tree.

A gentle breeze blew through the area and Zheng Ren felt a lightness in his body. Familiar images flashed through his mind. His fingers had a dexterity that was previously absent.

Was this the general surgery Master rank? It was not as earth-shattering as Zheng Ren had hoped.

The remaining 271 skill points caught his eye and he had to force himself to look away. He selected the option to purchase training time.

After accumulating them, he had more than 250000 experience points.

It would be sufficient.

Especially since his general surgery was at Master rank.

He traded 200000 experience points for 55.5 hours of intensive training time.

The System’s operating room rose from the ground. The simulation mannequins lay ready for him.

Each mannequin had a pancreas-related disease, so logically, Zheng Ren began with the ones with pancreatic pseudocysts.

Pancreatic surgery was much more difficult than hepatic surgery.

The anatomical and physiological make-up of the pancreas was unique.

Within 55.5 hours of training, Zheng Ren only managed fewer than 100 pancreatic surgeries without needing to stitch up the bodies in the System.

…

When Zheng Ren left to wash his hands, Su Yun immediately started disinfection despite still wearing the lead apron.

The matron opened up an abdominal surgery set while a scrub nurse checked the various tools.

Taking stock of surgical items was one of the scrub nurse’s duties. The scrub nurse had to keep track of all surgical tools, instruments and materials before and after the surgery. This was to prevent any unwanted items from winding up inside the patient’s body… which would be a lawsuit in the making.

Su Yun finished disinfecting the surgical site and applied the first layer of surgical drapes. Then, he left to remove his scrubs and lead apron for a second round of washing. At this point, Zheng Ren had already put on a new set of sterile scrubs and began laying the second layer of surgical drapes to cover all areas. The two surgeons worked in perfect tandem.

“Scalpel.” Once the drapes were in place, Zheng Ren started the surgery.

Zheng Ren was a few steps ahead of the matron and the new scrub nurse. His sudden request interrupted their counting.

“Give him a curved forceps, a scalpel and some gauze. We’ll count from there,” the matron ordered as she understood the urgency of the situation. Still, she could not help but glare at Zheng Ren.

“I’ll also need an aspirator with the tip.”

The work dynamic faltered without Xie Yiren.

At this moment, the said woman was sobbing in a corner of the control room. She was in no state to assist in the surgery.

Zheng Ren disinfected the skin one more time. Then, he held the scalpel in a pencil grip and made a 15cm-long incision along the left flank of Miao Xiaohua’s body.

[1] Referring to three other hospitals in the country.

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