Surgery Godfather
Chapter 1325 - 1001: Blind Men Touching an Elephant

Chapter 1325: Chapter 1001: Blind Men Touching an Elephant

Yang Ping had mostly grasped the process of the entire affair, but from a rational and objective perspective, this was still far from enough to make a definitive judgment about Guan Ruyan. Up next, they had to await the defense session arranged by Principal Ruo, where Guan Ruyan would have to defend several key subjects and papers face-to-face by himself. At that time, Guan Ruyan’s true level would become glaringly obvious, because at a real defense session, no one could fake their abilities, unless the experts conducting the defense were lenient or incompetent themselves.

Lu Xiaolu was indeed an exceptionally rare talent; it would be a pity to let him slip away. Yang Ping decided he still wanted to find a way to retain him since he was also a victim.

The defense session proposed by Principal Ruo would soon begin. All candidates for the Outstanding Young Talent within the Nandu Medical University system had to attend, and all questions had to be answered by the person responsible for the project themselves, not by an assistant, not even with hints. Principal Ruo stated that this regulation aimed to let the defense experts truly understand the content of the project, as assistants often lacked the leader’s deep understanding, thus eliminating the lazy practice of having assistants answer in their stead.

This notification made Guan Ruyan anxious. Lu Xiaolu’s health hadn’t yet recovered, and he had explained that after several days of diarrhea and dehydration, his body simply couldn’t cope and needed proper rest.

Guan Ruyan was now like an ant on a hot pan. If the defense session indeed went as Principal Ruo demanded, the assistant couldn’t help at all. Even if he brought Lu Xiaolu to the defense, Lu Xiaolu couldn’t answer for him; at most, he could pass notes, but in such a situation, he couldn’t receive notes while standing on stage.

Wearing an earpiece seemed like a good idea so that Lu Xiaolu could help with reminders, but then Lu Xiaolu would probably only be able to sit below the stage, surrounded by people, which equally made it impossible to relay answers to his ear. So, Guan Ruyan now found himself completely out of options and didn’t understand the intention behind Principal Ruo’s actions.

All Outstanding Young Talent candidates had to participate and defend their significant past research achievements. It seemed that the move wasn’t targeted solely at Guan Ruyan. It was heard that this was initiated by Academician Xiang, having been suggested several times, and Principal Ruo had not agreed until now.

After talking with Lu Xiaolu, Yang Ping decided to talk with Guan Ruyan as well. So he arranged a visit to Guan Ruyan’s laboratory through Principal Ruo, with Principal Ruo himself instructing Guan Ruyan to host Yang Ping personally.

Guan Ruyan was now at his wit’s end. He called Lu Xiaolu, asking him to come quickly to handle Professor Yang’s visit, but Lu Xiaolu replied that he was so unsteady he couldn’t even stand up, let alone handle a tour; he simply had the will, but not the strength.

After visiting Guan Ruyan’s laboratory, Yang Ping could almost certainly conclude that those famous research achievements couldn’t possibly have been orchestrated by Guan Ruyan himself. Actually, reaching the pinnacle of academic research requires a very narrow yet profound focus in the field, not something achievable merely by reading a few books and researching a few papers; it demands a profoundly deep understanding of the specialty.

So, by taking the opportunity of the visit, Yang Ping discussed the research field with Guan Ruyan. Guan Ruyan was indeed decent, but only slightly better than an average professor, hardly matching his current research outcomes.

On the other hand, Lu Xiaolu was the exact opposite. He had a very deep understanding of the specialty; Lu Xiaolu was the true young talent.

Yang Ping was now in a difficult position. If he took action against Guan Ruyan now, it would hurt Lu Xiaolu’s feelings. Yang Ping still wanted to retain Lu Xiaolu, and without Lu Xiaolu’s help, it would indeed be very difficult to definitively resolve Guan Ruyan’s situation.

At the home of Elder Academician Xiang, Principal Ruo, Yang Ping, and Academician Xiang met again to exchange intelligence about the situation and to discuss the next steps. Regardless of anything, until a definitive determination was made, the matter absolutely could not be made public and had to be kept within the three of them.

Yang Ping expressed to Principal Ruo his intention to retain Lu Xiaolu. Principal Ruo instructed Yang Ping not to waste time on this matter, leaving it to himself to handle. He knew how to proceed and would ensure that Lu Xiaolu was retained.

Since Principal Ruo promised, it meant he definitely had a plan. Yang Ping didn’t want to waste any more time on this, as his own project was at a critical stage, which couldn’t afford distractions or require them.

---

Fu Xiaotao’s Castleman’s disease was being treated, and the follow-up results after he was treated with rituximab had come out. Yang Ping had been paying attention to this case. Based on the follow-up indicators, the medication had no effect at all. After treatment with glucocorticoids, the disease had originally entered a remission phase, but now all indicators had begun to worsen again. It seemed that a large amount of steroids were still needed to control the symptoms.

"Rituximab didn’t work?" Song Zimo was quite puzzled.

"This time, even using steroids again in oncology didn’t work; only chemotherapy managed to stabilize the condition," Yang Ping said, staring at the medical records on the computer.

"Looking at the disease mechanism, isn’t interleukin-6 the main culprit? If that’s the case, theoretically, rituximab should be able to control the condition. Why does it have no effect at all?" Song Zimo also felt puzzled and suddenly became interested in this case.

Leaning back in his chair, Yang Ping thought for a moment and said, "Either there’s a problem with the drug, or there’s an issue with the disease model. One of them has to be problematic because theory is useless in the face of real cases, which means there is definitely something wrong with the theory."

Questioning is the basis of progress, and nothing is beyond questioning. Therefore, even things that are recognized need to be questioned. The bare fact is laid out here: the medication just didn’t work.

"But rituximab works well in other diseases based on interleukin-6, with plenty of reliable literature to prove it," Song Zimo continued to inquire.

Yang Ping had just reviewed many articles and said, "So, I am considering that the mechanism of Castleman’s disease must be wrong. The root cause is not interleukin-6. I have looked at all the papers on Castleman’s disease, and they almost resemble blind men feeling an elephant. Everyone only sees one aspect of the disease and has never seen the whole picture. Moreover, each believes they are correct."

"Find a student to go to oncology and get all of Fu Xiaotao’s medical records, including those from other hospitals," Yang Ping felt it was necessary to spend some effort on this disease since he had noticed the doubts, and it clearly didn’t match his personality not to clarify them.

Song Zimo sent a student to oncology to get all of Fu Xiaotao’s medical records. Fortunately, all of Fu Xiaotao’s medical records were well preserved; he had made copies of all the medical records each time he was hospitalized.

Yang Ping looked at these records one by one, then tried to connect all the information from a holistic viewpoint, abandoning the original fixed mindset. In fact, from the onset of the disease, almost every doctor was serious and tried their best to improve the diagnostics to unveil the truth of the illness. Biopsies of the lymph nodes had been done several times, and there were ample blood tests conducted.

To better review the medical records, Yang Ping took everyone to the Meeting Room, laying out the tests one by one on the large conference table, because it was the only place that could accommodate so many test results.

"But I just saw the changes in various indicators; they really seem to fit with the interleukin-6 disease model?" Song Zimo thought the disease model was not problematic.

Yang Ping, head down, kept adjusting the arranged tests, "That’s because you are only seeing the results of each outbreak episode. You’ve touched just part of the elephant. If you pull your perspective higher, seeing from his first test result to the last, and don’t miss any, you will discover something different. Look, six months before the symptoms appeared the second time, his body’s T cells had already started abnormally activating. Three months before the second relapse, the level of vascular endothelial growth factor in his body had already increased, a signal of the immune system speeding up. Could this mean that the entire chain of the disease differs completely from the accepted model based on interleukin-6?"