Surgery Godfather
Chapter 735 - 655: Shall we continue discussing cooperation?

Chapter 735: Chapter 655: Shall we continue discussing cooperation?

Director Zuo, along with his two assistants, swiftly completed the placement of the artificial blood vessel.

"You are Professor Yang from the South, aren’t you?"

Director Zuo inquired as he undressed from his surgical gown after completing the surgery.

"Nice to meet you, Director Zuo!" Yang Ping greeted politely.

Director Zuo smiled and said, "Heroes can be young. You’re the winner of the Golden Knife Award in orthopedics this year, aren’t you?"

Yang Ping nodded.

Song Yun immediately introduced Director Zuo, "Our Director Zuo was also a Golden Knife Award champion in major vascular surgery."

Xiehe Hospital has produced many Golden Knife Award champions in various fields such as orthopedics, vascular surgery, and general surgery.

While the Golden Knife Awards are not ubiquitous, they are not a rare occurrence either.

It was no easy feat for Director Zuo to bring back the Golden Knife Award in major vascular surgery from Anzhen Hospital and Fuwai Hospital. After all, these two hospitals have always tightened their grasp on the Golden Knife Awards in the cardiac and major vascular surgery categories, and it has never fallen into the hands of a third hospital.

Similar goes to the major vascular surgery category, no one except Director Zuo has ever won the Golden Knife Award, breaking the unbeatable record of Anzhen and Fuwai.

"No need to mention it, I was already 42 when I won the award, and you’re not even 30 yet, it’s not a fair comparison," Director Zuo waved off.

He wanted to chat more with Yang Ping, after all, they hold the Golden Knife Award in common, proving themselves as superlative surgeons and lots of topics could be shared.

Unfortunately, Director Zuo’s assistant received a phone call. They had to immediately attend to an emergency surgery: a pregnant woman had been admitted to the emergency department with aortic dissection, her blood vessels bulging like a balloon, ready to rupture at any moment, an urgent operation was required.

Without even having time to say goodbye, Director Zuo quickly exited with his assistants.

Yang Ping resumed the operation, everyone took a short break and returned to their focused states.

With the protection of the artificial blood vessel, even if an aortic dissection occurs in the future, there would be no cause for alarm. Essentially, this dangerous potentiality was being eliminated in advance.

Yang Ping then began to separate the tumor. Although the separation on the rear side was not quite 360 degrees, the majority of it was completed, leaving only the front side yet to be separated.

Most of the tumor’s blood supply came from the front side, making hemostasis more challenging in this area.

Furthermore, the tumor was adhered to the abdominal aorta and inferior vena cava, making their separation exceedingly difficult.

This step was extremely dangerous and severely tested the surgeon’s skill and dexterity.

The doctors in the meeting room were eagerly awaiting to see how this expert would separate the tumor here, whether he would accidentally cut open a large blood vessel or rupture the tumor’s pseudo-capsule, resulting in incomplete, leaky removal of the tumor.

Because the pseudo-capsule of the tumor in this area is part of the large blood vessel wall, successful separation is much more challenging than in the posterior path.

Chene’s bladder was no longer so distended, presumably due to the reabsorption and the fact that Chene had stopped drinking water.

Throughout the operation, Director Hu ignored him. He observed the surgery alone while the other American doctors were engrossed in observing, occasionally exchanging words with the Chinese doctors beside them.

Chene also wished to engage in some discussion and ask a few details about the operation. He was very interested in this Chinese-style total vertebrae resection, but Director Hu’s answers discouraged him from asking further.

"After the 360-degree separation, we are down to the last step. First, we need to ligate the tumor’s blood vessels. Only after all the blood vessels of the tumor are ligated and the surgical field is absolutely clear, can subsequent separation be carried out calmly."

At each critical step, Yang Ping would inform Song Yun.

He ligated the segmental arteries around the second, third and fourth lumbar vertebrae, and then one by one, he began to ligate the blood vessels supplying the tumor. Each blood vessel seemed to be known to him beforehand; none were missed, none were mishandled, and the operation was still performed with the same efficiency.

Song Yun couldn’t understand how Yang Ping could be so familiar with the anatomy of this tumor. If he remembered these blood vessels based on angiographic images, then Yang Ping’s ability to apply imaging pictures to actual surgical operations was too strong.

As Yang Ping continuously requested for vascular clamps, Song Yun followed suit by ligating blood vessels non-stop and tirelessly.

The blood vessels supplying the tumor were ligated one by one. None were missed or mistaken. This radical method of hemostasis was highly effective.

The entire surgical field was very clean, almost unrealistically clean.

Only surgeries on the limbs using a tourniquet and preoperative exsanguination could achieve such a surgical field.

The clean and clear surgical field made the tumor separation incredibly smooth. When it reached the area where the tumor adhered to the large blood vessels, the laser knife was used to dissect with extreme precision.

"Still the same principle, start from the normal tissue and proceed step by step!"

At this point, to prevent tumor leakage, it was necessary to peel off the intact outer layer of the large blood vessels, which constituted part of the tumor’s pseudo-capsule.

The aorta’s outer layer was gradually lifted under the precise dissection of the laser knife, neither too thick nor too thin, preserving the integrity of the outer layer.

"Therefore, it is very important to insert an artificial blood vessel in advance during this surgery. If not, any rupture can cause massive bleeding. The temporary blockage of the aorta can only stop the bleeding for a short time and cannot prevent rupture. Even if there is no rupture and we successfully peel off the outer membrane, the remaining blood vessel wall is unhealthy and can easily form a dissection."

Shortly after, the tumor separated from the aorta, followed by the inferior vena cava.

Yang Ping carefully checked if there were any remaining tissue adhesions around the tumor and the vertebrae. Everything was perfect. There were no connections within a 360-degree view. Yang Ping carefully removed the entire tumor and three vertebrae from the anterior abdominal cavity and placed them in the nurse’s metal basin.

The removal of the tumor and three vertebrae was a great success!

Now the surgery had proceeded into the third hour, which included the time taken to insert the artificial blood vessel.

After washing the surgical area and confirming that there were no overlooked bleeding points, they proceeded to the placement of the drainage tube. The stitching up of the incision was handed over to Song Yun.

With these two steps of the surgery completed, the only remaining step was the posterior fixation -- supporting the spine using pedicle screw system and artificial spinal prosthesis scaffolding.

After the incision was stitched up and covered with a sterile dressing, the patient was laid back down in the prone position to proceed with the posterior fixation.

Compared to the previous steps, this stage was relatively simple. After placing the artificial spine, they used the pedicle screw system for connection and fixation. This artificial scaffolding replaced the three removed vertebrae, continuing to support the central axis of the human body.

The entire surgery was completed in four hours.

The operation that had been originally planned to take twenty hours, was completed in four.

All the doctors in the conference room were shocked beyond belief. The four-hour surgery didn’t feel long at all to them, leaving them wanting more.

The director, a veteran in dealing with all sorts of tricky situations, continually regretted his earlier hesitation in signing off on the procedure; he shouldn’t have vacillated so much.

Professor Liang sported a faint smile, for the trauma he suffered due to the Zhang Chunquan incident had been cured by Yang Ping.

Chene felt as if his self-esteem had been tossed onto the ground and crushed into a pancake.

"Chene, you were saying something?"

Professor Hu noticed that Chene had been restless throughout, wanting to ask a question.

"Where is the restroom?" Chene finally plucked up the courage to ask.

Director Hu gestured, "Out the back door, then turn left!"

Finally, the doctors of Xiehe Hospital had the opportunity to witness the level of skill worthy of the Golden Knife Award -- the top nationwide.

Four hours, one perfect surgery, that said it all.

"Can Professor Yang’s team increase their quota?" A chief physician asked Director Hu quietly.

Director Hu shook his head, "His team is mostly composed of young doctors, under forty, with most under thirty-five. They have enough team members."

The chief physician resignedly returned to his seat.

"Professor Hu, for the second surgery, will it still be a demonstration of the Chinese-style complete vertebrae removal? Can I observe in the operating room?"

With an empty bladder, Chene felt a lot more at ease, and thus, a lot bolder.

"I’m sorry. We only had one demonstration surgery scheduled for today. According to our operating room management rules, you won’t be able to enter the operating room now." Director Hu apologized.

Chene was deeply disappointed, then asked, "Can we exchange doctors for further study? Will there be any more complete vertebrae removal surgeries in the next few days? Can I stay here to watch?"

Director Hu apologised again, "Our training is done in stages. Priority is given to Chinese doctors. We do not currently accept foreign doctors."

Chene awkwardly blushed, "How much longer do I need to wait?"

"There are many doctors in China. I can’t determine the exact time for now. If you have any requests, please wait for our notice." Director Hu, feeling completely relaxed, had never felt so comfortable before.

Chene reluctantly nodded, "Alright."

"If you have some time later, we can continue discussing the cooperation?" Director Hu reminded Chene.

Chene stammered, "The...cooperation...we were a bit rushed... there are still many issues left unresolved."

In comparison to the Chinese-style complete vertebrae removal, Chene’s surgical method seemed a bit outdated and crude.

He secretly called over an assistant to take his equipment box off the podium, no longer planning to continue his explanation afterwards.

Despite feeling extremely frustrated, Chene didn’t dare to express it.

He was silently complaining: Medical skills should have no borders, these Chinese people were narrow-minded, making foreign people wait until all the Chinese doctors had finished learning. He wondered when his turn would finally come.