Surgery Godfather
Chapter 937 - 808: Just Hang Up a Sign?

Chapter 937: Chapter 808: Just Hang Up a Sign?

"Vascular anastomosis as a trump card, how could you possibly fumble on that."

Song Zimo, along with Xu Zhiliang, started closing the chest, while Yang Ping sat down indifferently to rest, chatting with Academician Wang and Professor Chen.

Li Zehui, Director He, and Xia Shu also tried to move closer to this side. Although the surgery had already entered the chest-closing phase, as long as they hadn’t removed their surgical gowns, everyone dared not get too close, maintaining at least a one-meter distance.

You never know when an emergency might arise, and Yang Ping would have to step up as chief surgeon at any time.

Professor Yang had even performed reattachment surgeries for amputated fingers in infants before? It’s no wonder his vascular anastomosis skills were so high, Academician Wang felt Yang Ping was unfathomable. He seemed capable of anything, and could achieve excellence in everything.

Having just witnessed Yang Ping’s mastery of vascular anastomosis, Li Zehui was also full of admiration.

As cardiac surgeons, they absolutely could not perform as many vascular anastomoses as those doctors specializing in reattachment surgeries for amputated fingers, making finger reattachment the surgery that best hones vascular anastomosis skills. Unfortunately, the training journey of a cardiac surgeon wouldn’t include performing such reattachment surgeries.

Director He was somewhat wary of Xia Shu’s arrival, given that the doctor was a Ph.D. from the eight-year program at Xiehe, who also completed his clinical training at Xiehe Fuwai before taking a direct position in Sanbo Integrated Surgery. He couldn’t help but be alert to the reasons behind this.

Could it be that hospital leaders had some plans? Director He couldn’t help but speculate.

The y ounger and more elitist approach towards department directors with Ph.D.s was a strategic policy of Sanbo Hospital. Xia Shu had previously worked at Fuwai, and if he spent a few more years honing his skills in Integrated Surgery and then returned to Thoracic Surgery, would he take over his own position, He Xiangjun had to consider this possibility.

Academician Wang hadn’t expected the baby’s surgery to go so smoothly, with no need for additional stitches after suturing.

After the surgery ended, the infant was transferred to the Intensive Care Unit. Yang Ping decided to have him stay there for 5 days to get past the critical period before transferring him back to a general ward.

Of course, if the major vascular remained underdeveloped and complications like aortic dissection developed in the future, that would be another story. At least for now, the surgery was a success.

Another patient, Song Hanhui, was one of Academician Wang’s Fontan surgery patients, who was an infant at the time. Academician Wang had performed the Fontan surgery on him, but due to the severity of Song Hanhui’s cardiac malformations, the Fontan surgery only held up for 10 years, which is, as of now, when Song Hanhui was 11 years old, various severe complications had arisen.

The only solution was a definitive one, which was to correct the heart malformations.

Such cardiac malformations in this patient couldn’t be found in textbooks or literature—his heart had eight malformations. In theory, if all eight malformations were corrected, the patient could continue to live.

But sometimes, the gap between theory and reality is vast.

Academician Wang knew it was theoretically feasible back then, but the realities of the day and the limits of his ability meant he couldn’t perform full corrective operations, so he had to resort to the Fontan surgery as a palliative treatment, hoping to buy time until a method for full correction became available.

Now at retirement age, he still couldn’t manage it, and so couldn’t help feeling regretful.

This time, Professor Chen also brought Song Hanhui’s case data, which was stored on a portable hard drive.

After the surgery was over, everyone moved to Yang Ping’s office to promptly discuss Song Hanhui’s condition. The main theme of a doctor’s work is to treat and save patients, so from morning until night, that was all they thought about, all that they did.

Even though Academician Wang was retired, he was still preoccupied with this matter.

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Yang Ping’s office was quite spacious, not to express luxury, but rather because he often needed the office for case discussions and had to accommodate several people.

Otherwise, if a case discussion came up spontaneously, going to the doctors’ office would be too chaotic with everyone working, and using demonstration rooms or meeting rooms was just too troublesome.

Upon connecting the portable hard drive, the case data was pulled up.

A case that could leave Academician Wang with regrets surely wasn’t ordinary. This heart with eight malformations had managed to function for 11 years, which spoke volumes about Academician Wang’s superb medical skills.

If not for Academician Wang’s surgery, he wouldn’t have survived past 2 years old, and most wouldn’t have made it past 1 year old.

Firstly, there was dextrocardia, similar to the previously-mentioned Mirror Man, where the heart that was normally on the left side was situated on the right.

Then there were double outlet right ventricles, complete atrioventricular septal defect, severe subvalvular pulmonary stenosis, transposed great vessels, single atrium, severe atrioventricular valve regurgitation, and hepatic veins draining directly into the right atrium—a total of eight different heart malformations.

Each one of these malformations alone presented a formidable challenge for treatment; the complexity of a combination of all eight can only be imagined, requiring a complete reconstruction of the heart.

Compared to him, Mai Zijing seemed like a minor sorcerer before a grand wizard.

Under such circumstances, the Fontan surgery was the only option at the time, and Academician Wang had no choice but to proceed with it.

The difficulty of reconstructing the heart was extremely high, since it’s a precision active pump, each part had to ensure anatomical precision and functional perfection.

The surgery entailed a lot of careful considerations and meticulous attention to detail.

During the surgery, it was vital to be extremely cautious, to avoid damaging the cardiac conduction bundles, as postoperative conduction block could result.

The ventricular outflow tract absolutely could not be narrowed; atrioventricular valves must not have regurgitation, pulmonary veins must not be obstructed, among other issues that needed to be avoided postoperatively.

"So, what do you think? Can it be done?" Academician Wang asked with concern.