Surgery Godfather
Chapter 1311 - 994 Chance of Revenge

Chapter 1311: Chapter 994 Chance of Revenge

But when he heard the name Yang Ping, Fu Xiaotao immediately perked up. And when the attending doctor told Fu Xiaotao that they were going to consult Professor Yang Ping, a nursing aide who was tidying up the bed of a discharged patient nearby casually commented, "If Professor Yang takes a look, I reckon your illness won’t be far from being cured."

Fu Xiaotao’s parents, upon hearing what the aide said, began to inquire about Professor Yang. The aide, brimming with an ’ask-the-right-person’ attitude, continued tidying the bed while spilling details like someone narrating legendary tales from the world of martial arts, with vivid and mysterious descriptions. True or false, the aide’s words gave Fu Xiaotao and his parents a strong sense of anticipation.

With a complex medical history that seemed to lack a main thread and various atypical symptoms pieced together, indeed, it looked like a rheumatologic immune disease. But "looking like" was not enough to make a diagnosis, "looking like" could only serve as a clue.

Yang Ping now had no idea what the disease actually was. For an excellent doctor, when faced with a disease that is difficult to determine, there is still a heavy weapon to use: pathological diagnosis. Even an unnamed disease can reveal its pathological changes through pathology, thereby revealing the pathological mechanism and uncovering what disease it might be. Many new diseases were discovered through this method.

So, Yang Ping decided to take a sample of the patient’s enlarged lymph node for pathological examination, hoping to explore what exactly had happened through the pathological changes in the lymph node tissue. This was the most reliable and effective method.

With the medical history taken, the physical examination, and the review of imaging completed, Yang Ping and the team returned to the doctors’ office, he mulled over the situation as they walked. The diagnoses listed by the experts were not without basis; they represented the most logical judgment from their respective fields of specialization.

In diagnostic medicine, there is a principle called monism, which is to try to explain all of a patient’s symptoms with a single disease, because the likelihood of a patient suffering from one disease is much greater than multiple diseases.

"I suggest we perform a minor surgery to take a pathology slice from the enlarged lymph node and see what’s really going on from a pathological perspective," Yang Ping offered his opinion.

Given the medical history, physical examination, and ancillary tests, it was not yet possible to determine what the disease was. Removing a lymph node for pathological examination might not solve the puzzle, but it was necessary at this point. A biopsy could be done instead, but biopsies sometimes fail to retrieve the actual pathological tissue and are not as reliable as directly surgically removing the lymph node.

A single lymph node won’t have entirely pathological tissue, so biopsy poses a big problem—such a small biopsy needle makes it difficult to ensure that the tissue extracted is indeed pathological. Even multiple biopsies could miss the diagnosis, which is why some patients with lymphatic tumors have normal diagnoses after several biopsies.

However, surgically removing the entire lymph node could completely prevent misdiagnosis. If many slices are made from the lymph node, there must be one that contains pathological tissue. If an enlarged and abnormal lymph node is taken and made entirely into pathology slices, theoretically, there’s no chance of missing a diagnosis.

"Let’s go with Professor Yang’s suggestion."

Director Jiang expressed agreement. In fact, he had no other options. This was Director Jiang’s last hope. Of course, if they still couldn’t find out what the disease was, Director Jiang wouldn’t feel any psychological burden since it’s not unusual to be discharged without a clear diagnosis in internal medicine.

Yang Ping pulled out his Montblanc pen from the upper left pocket of his white gown and smoothly wrote his consultation opinion on the form. His handwriting was not sloppy—compared to the flamboyant writing of other doctors, Yang Ping’s writing was almost regular script, legible, with clear structure, which was very rare among doctors with many years of experience.

The Montblanc pen was a small gift from August. Every doctor at the Surgical Research Institute had one. It was the symbol of the Institute, except Yang Ping’s pen was a limited edition with his exclusive emblem: Docter Yang.

"Shall we do the procedure in the operating room, or what time would be convenient for you?"

Director Jiang, an internal doctor, was not very clear on some of the specific procedures of surgery.

Yang Ping replied, "No need for the operating room. It can be done right here in your ward’s treatment room under local anesthesia. You need to sign an informed consent form first, and then proceed with the operation. Do you have a dressing kit? We’ll also need a syringe of 2% lidocaine and one of saline."

Many lymph nodes in the body are superficial and easily felt by most people. To find an obviously significant superficial lymph node, make a small incision, and within minutes, the entire lymph node can be cleanly removed, even if there’s adhesion, which won’t affect the speed of the surgery.

Yang Ping looked at the student who had come with him. If there were someone experienced, he could let the student complete the task. But while two students had originally come with him, now there was only one. Where had the other gone?

It turned out that one student walked too slowly and missed the elevator, then got pulled aside halfway by a doctor from another department to push patients. Now his whereabouts were unknown.

The remaining student was a newcomer just starting a rotation at the Surgical Research Institute and was not yet skilled enough for this minor surgery. Yang Ping decided to do it himself.

"Let’s get the stuff ready right away. I will remove the lymph node now," urged Yang Ping to Director Jiang.

Director Jiang was momentarily stunned. It was clear he had not anticipated a big shot like Yang Ping to personally perform such a minor procedure. Director Jiang was not slow to react; he was waiting for Yang Ping to delegate the task to another doctor, like the student with him or someone else. He had not expected Yang Ping to plan on doing it himself.