Surgery Godfather
Chapter 847 - 755: The Ruthless Approach

Chapter 847: Chapter 755: The Ruthless Approach

Rochester, Minnesota, United States, Meeting Room of the Mayo Clinic Department of Neurosurgery.

In the Mayo Clinic Department of Neurosurgery, there are not many cases that require such a solemn discussion, either they are difficult cases, or they are cases of VIP patients from those four wards on the top floor.

The case to be discussed now is a difficult case---the congenital cerebral hemisphere disorder which Mayo Clinic has encountered for the first time.

The results of the fMRI study of cerebral hemisphere anatomy had been obtained, so it was necessary for everyone to have a serious discussion on whether surgery was feasible and, if so, what kind of surgical approach should be used.

Anatomy images of the cerebral hemispheres had been transmitted to the doctors’ hands a few days ago, and they had all been deliberating on the treatment plan for this case in the past few days; now, everyone was prepared.

On the high-definition screen, the imagery of the cerebral hemisphere was slowly sequentially played.

Each doctor also had a tablet in hand, and everyone was fully engaged, sometimes staring at the images on the screen and sometimes looking down at the images on their own tablets.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to ask our brain anatomy expert, Dr. Heller, to introduce us to the anatomy of this special brain. As everyone knows, Dr. Heller is one of the world’s leading experts in brain anatomy, and his research on the anatomy of the brain far surpasses ours. Many of us have sought Dr. Heller’s help with brain anatomy issues. The fMRI-based lie detection project, familiar to everyone, is a cooperation among our Neurology Department, Neurosurgery, and Mayo Medical School, and Dr. Heller was involved in the topic and helped us achieve great success. Please welcome Dr. Heller," John Ansen applauded, and everyone else joined in.

Dr. Heller, in fact, was not old, being a few months shy of thirty. He stood up, with a somewhat shy look, like a bashful young man.

He pointed his electronic pen at the screen and began introducing the cerebral hemisphere anatomy:

"This is Patient D’s brain anatomy fMRI image. I have dissected one thousand four hundred and seventeen brains, among which there are twelve living cerebral hemispheres and fourteen cerebral hemispheres dissected post-mortem for pathological anatomy. Nobody understands the brain better than I do, but I’m shocked that this cerebral hemisphere is completely different from the others. It is congenital, and I have never encountered a congenital case before. Its brain anatomy is somewhere between complete and halfway, very unique. The arrangement of its neural nuclei is chaotic to us, chaos stemming from our ignorance of it. The arrangements of its brainstem, diencephalon, and cerebellum are also confined within the cerebral hemisphere and are chaotic as well."

"Due to some sort of genetic defect, this strange brain never crossed the midline of the cranial cavity from fetus to present, it has always been confined to half the cranial space. The number of neural nuclei in it differs from a normal brain, with more than half the usual count. In our study, we found that among these nuclei, some are healthy, some are underdeveloped, and some have degenerated, leaving only a faint trace. The healthy and underdeveloped neural nuclei together take on the brain’s functions."

"This is the red area, the neural nuclei that I have marked, with an arrangement I have never seen before, completely different from the fixed neural nuclei in our brains, without even a similarity. Look, here’s the tumor."

"It’s tucked away like a well-behaved baby, wrapped by this nearly spherical cluster of neural nuclei. Why it grew like this, I have no idea."

"As for this nearly spherical guy, I regret to inform you that I haven’t figured out its function. Although Doctor John Ansen entrusted me to determine its function as much as possible, I have not succeeded, or cannot do so in the short term. Judging from the symptoms provided by Doctor John Ansen, it at least is responsible for cognition, even pressure brings severe cognitive impairment. I don’t know what would happen if it were damaged because it is obviously much more fragile than a normal brain."

"Studying the function of all neural nuclei needs a long time, but Doctor John Ansen’s suggestion is a good one. We are not anatomists, I don’t need to use it to smash the Nobel Prize committee, I just need to know the location of the neural nuclei, then find a safe interval, and that would be enough. This task has been accomplished."

"These red circles are the neural nuclei, these green lines are the safe intervals. The intervals seem almost potential; the neural nuclei are very crowded, and the tumor is wrapped by this strange neural nucleus, it acts like an armor protecting the tumor. Here’s a flaw, a flaw in the armor, very small, seemingly unconnected to that safe path."

"Now I have to tell Doctor John Ansen, regretfully---that’s all I can help you with. If you asked me what would happen if this armor were harmed, I could only tell you, it would turn him into an idiot."

"That’s all I have to say. If there’s anything you don’t understand, I suggest you should go back to school and complain to your anatomy teacher."

Loud laughter and applause followed, and the bashful young man returned to his seat.

Doctor John Ansen was next, his brows furrowed all this while, for he indeed faced a dilemma.

"Gentlemen, as you can see from my expression, I really am facing a dilemma. Hell, who has ever seen such a brain? As you have heard, the surgery is such a difficult thing,"