Surgery Godfather
Chapter 487 - 443: Fatal Adhesion

Chapter 487: Chapter 443: Fatal Adhesion

This type of adhesion caused Professor Li to fear.

He had meticulously observed Yang Ping’s surgery just now. The surface of the heart was almost adhered to the inner surface of the sternum.

When the sternum was sawed open, the saw blade cut through the sternum without damaging the heart that was adhered to it. This was not due to sheer luck. One cannot rely solely on luck to avoid errors throughout the entire process.

Professor Li’s teacher once said, "Remember, excellent surgeons need to be skilled at constructing images in their minds."

So now there was only one explanation. Dr. Yang was able to construct a three-dimensional anatomical diagram of the surgical area in his mind using the imaging pictures. Relying on this mental image, he guided the electric saw in his hand to operate with precision.

During Professor Li’s first heart surgery, the patient had a history of heart surgery that he was unaware of. Previous surgeries had caused the heart to adhere to the inner surface of the sternum. As Professor Li wielded the chest saw, he severed the sternum from top to bottom, then a profusion of dark red blood gushed out.

At that time, he was scared by the sight of the blood and didn’t know what had happened.

Fortunately, his composed teacher directed from below the operating table: "The saw has cut into the atrium below. Apply pressure to it, stop the bleeding, then repair it."

The patient’s blood pressure plunged. The anesthesiologist instructed the patrolling nurse to administer a blood transfusion. In the chaos, Professor Li mechanically followed his teacher’s instructions, but could not locate where the bleeding was coming from.

"Saw through the sternum completely, the tear is underneath," his teacher shouted, then prepared to go up to the operating table, gloves already on.

Professor Li, with gritted teeth, picked up the electric saw once again in the middle of a pool of blood and completely sawed through the sternum.

Sure enough, under the help of the suction device, Professor Li saw the source of the bleeding, a wound on the right atrium about 3 cm from the top. He reached out and held the wound.

"Suture it!"

The teacher issued the command. The teacher took over for Professor Li’s trembling hand, pressed against the wound to stop the bleeding, and Professor Li began repairing the tear in the atrium. The teacher let go of his hand, creating a barely visible view with the suction device. Thankfully, due to stringent training, Professor Li was able to repair the tear quickly. The blood was stopped, and the patient’s blood pressure rose again.

Since then, Professor Li had never trembled when encountering blood or the sight of a heart, seeming just like a soldier baptized in warfare.

But at this moment, Professor Li could not help but feel shaken. The heart as well as the large blood vessels connected to it were blurred, especially the large blood vessels. Everywhere was covered with adhesions.

Compared to round blades, scalpel blades have a higher precision in dissection, but they also carry a higher risk.

First, let’s open the pericardium. The pericardium is a membrane around the heart consisting of a fibrous layer and a serous layer, forming a potential cavity in between. This cavity contains a fluid similar to lubricating oil.

This fluid can reduce the friction when the heart beats, just like the oil in an engine.

Furthermore, the entire pericardium, especially the fibrous layer, can not only protect the encapsulated heart but also keep the heart in the right position, limiting the heart from excessive expansion.

If there is no pericardial restriction, the internal pressure of the heart will rise rapidly during contraction. The heart will expand unrestrictedly and may cause the heart to rupture.

Of course, this situation occurs when the heart contracts violently.

It’s like putting a balloon in a cloth bag, no matter how much you blow into it, it will not exceed the size of the bag. If there is no constraint from the bag and you keep inflating the balloon, the balloon will burst when it expands to a certain degree.

Originally, the pericardium that had positive effects now forms adhesions and narrows, restricting the normal beating of the heart and threatening life. Now Yang Ping has to peel off this pericardial membrane that is restricting the heart.

The pericardium must be opened to fully release the vitality of the heart; otherwise, this contracted membrane will strangle the heart.

The scalpel is replaced with a round blade again. The blade tip scraped across the pericardium with appropriate depth, just tearing through the membrane without injuring the actual surface of the heart. This knife skill was unbelievable to Professor Li.

The fibrous and serous layers of the pericardium had already adhered together to form a hard connective tissue.

"Be careful!"

Unable to restrain his concern, Professor Li voiced his worry.

However, it was as if Yang Ping had not heard him. The blade already made a long incision in the heart, successfully in one attempt.

The concern of Professor Li was in fact, unnecessary. Because with this cut, every location on the pericardial membrane had been grazed just enough to penetrate it, without injuring the heart beneath it.

As the pericardium was opened, the living heart was ready to burst forth.

Using a toothless forceps to lift the pericardium, the scalpel nearly touching the surface of the heart, started to dissect around it. Gradually, the membrane that restrained the heart was half-separated, no longer able to restrain the heart.

"Leave the rest, it helps to keep the heart in position." Yang Ping put down the scalpel in his hand.

If the entire pericardium was peeled off like a boiled egg, the bare heart would roll and collide everywhere inside the chest cavity due to lack of constraint. The blood vessels connected to it would be torn or spasm.

All the internal organs of the human body must be properly secured; otherwise, they will be running around.

The remaining pathological pericardium can no longer constrain the heart. This allows the heart to contract freely but, compared to a normal heart, there is a risk of rupture when it contracts suddenly and violently.

Change the blade!

A blade must be changed after each section of the dissection.

Because of the worrying quality of these blades, they become blunt in just a few minutes, unable to meet the demands of delicate dissection.

The thing that surgeons hate most---a blunt surgical blade!

Switching back to the scalpel again, Yang Ping started to dissect along the aorta. The aorta and the chamber vein were adhered and drawn towards the anterior side of the spine and stuck there.

An abnormal spine and chest wall resulted in a very narrow chest cavity volume. The blood vessels and organs were almost squeezed together. The large blood vessels meandered like intestines, but because of the adhesions, nothing was clear.

Adhering connective tissue drowned everything, making it impossible to tell what was a blood vessel. Underneath the scalpel was just one structure: an adhering connective tissue.

The scalpel persevered, and the tortuous ascending aorta slowly revealed itself.

Following that, the first major branch of the aorta, the brachiocephalic trunk, began to show its outline under the scalpel.

As though the tip of the blade had some sort of special detection ability, a branch of the unnamed artery was separated. Yang Ping had no intention of ligature, but continued to separate until he was satisfied with the length, so that it wouldn’t be a drag on the entire aorta’s reposition.

"The workspace is so small; they are squeezed together, they adhere to themselves, and they adhere to everything around them."

Professor Li concentrated intently, following Yang Ping’s rhythm, as there was an unknown down every cut, every stroke of the blade left one’s heart in their mouth.

This was like running blindly in a minefield!

Although the operation was not an intracardiac surgery and everything was done on the outside of the heart, any carelessness could cause the blood vessels to rupture.

However, it seemed that Yang Ping knew where to cut in advance. Each time his scalpel descended, whether it was the coordinates of his cuts from left to right, up and down, or their depth, he never made a mistake.

This was not how Professor Li had imagined it.

He imagined that there should be occasional breaches in blood vessels with blood gushing or spurting out, followed by quick fixes and only then could they proceed.

Yet in Doctor Yang’s case, there was nothing like that. Up until now, from the root of the aorta to the brachiocephalic trunk, there had not been a single instance of unexpected bleeding.

There were several instances where they thought there might be a spurt of blood, but there wasn’t.

Could it be that Doctor Yang had some other advanced imaging device to aid him in conducting these examinations?

Impossible.

Professor Li looked up and around, everything was normal.

---

Family waiting area.

The parents of Zheng Baosheng were experiencing bouts of anxiety. This worry for their flesh and blood was uncontrollable.

Their son now lay on the operating table and may never wake up.

Old Zheng checked his phone from time to time, calculating the time, dreading the surgical door suddenly opening and the doctor somberly saying, "We did our best."

Zheng Baosheng’s mother was quietly muttering something, probably praying for divine blessings.

This torment was extremely painful.

"Old Zheng, do you think our son can make it?" Zheng Baosheng’s mother opened her eyes.

Old Zheng looked towards the surgical room door, "Our son said, he can make it. He mentioned those whom Doctor Yang had brought back from the verge of death are countless, and he believes he will be one of them."

Upon hearing this, her heart found a little comfort.

For such situations, really, it was a matter of fate!

---

Nurse Qin was now inside the operating room. Since the video was only filming the surgical area, she couldn’t see how the surgical nurse was performing.

So, she could only go to the operating room and observe firsthand.

The silent cooperation between the chief surgeon and the surgical nurse, that seamless tacit understanding, opened up a new world for Nurse Qin.

She had always thought herself to be the best scrub nurse, having trained at the best hospital in China and experienced countless surgeries daily. But she had never seen such a perfectly coordinated operation.

Everything was clear and orderly. This kind of clarity and order was natural, not mechanical, rigid, or deliberate.

She had once invited Xiao Su to come to 301 for training, but now she realized it should’ve been the other way around. This was the place truly worth learning from.

The circulating nurse, a young girl, was handling the operation solo, without any help, yet she was not flustered at all, remaining calm and collected. Everything she did seemed like she had employed mathematical scheduling and achieved optimal order.

And the anesthesiologist, calmly sitting at the patient’s head side, was even toying with his phone.

Every now and then, he would glance at the monitoring screen before returning to his phone.

Perhaps everything was under his control and he didn’t need to worry.

The reserve perfusionist who had come from the Thoracic Surgery Department was idle, sitting on one side and glancing around out of boredom.

---

"How is it that Yang is so proficient in cardiac surgery?" Professor Liang couldn’t help but ask.

They had come to observe spinal orthopedics, but ended up watching a heart and large blood vessel operation instead.

"I don’t know. He said he will be the principal surgeon for the whole operation, and I thought he was joking." Professor Qin didn’t have the answer either.

It could only be explained as a gift of talent.

Professor Su remained silent, his gaze fixed on the screen. Although he was a top surgeon for spinal deformities, sometimes cardiac surgeons were needed to deal with heart and lung issues during spinal curvature operations. Thus, he was fully aware of the difficulty of the current operation.

They were right to conduct this operation under the auspices of the Surgical Research Institute.

It seemed that the ones who truly understood him were Xia Changjiang and Han Jiangong.

Professor Su glanced at Professor Qin. Now, Professor Qin was the most determined to recruit Yang Ping to 301.

If he really went to 301, his prospects might not be as good as they were at Sanbo. Professor Su had this realization.

But some things were beyond ordinary people’s control.

Professor Liang had Professor Su on his left and Professor Qin on his right, turning his head to chat with them now and then.

"Young people can be pretty scary. Does Yang have a partner?"

Professor Qin nodded, "Yes, he does."

"Where’s the partner from? What’s the situation?" Professor Liang asked in detail.

"A nurse from the operating room, she’s assisting in the operation right now."

Compared to Professor Liang, Professor Qin knew more about Yang Ping’s personal situation.

Professor Su glanced sideways, wondering: Asking about a partner? Is he trying to get to the bottom of things? Had the attempt to poach Yang gotten to this stage?

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