Chapter 687 - This Was The Difference
Mu Tao had a lot of dreams. He dreamed that he was lying on a beach in Sanya, enjoying the warm sunlight. It was so warm. The sunlight dispersed the cold from his body, making him feel extremely comfortable. Just as he was about to turn over so that the other side of his face was facing the sunlight, Elder Wu's figure appeared in front of him. Elder Wu was holding a book in his hand. With his back facing the sunlight, he walked toward him. Mu Tao was stunned for a moment and was a little absent-minded. Where was this place? "Mu Tao, why are you still lying down? Did you give up?" Elder Wu said very seriously. It was just like many years ago when Mu Tao had just entered the postgraduate student examination and met Elder Wu for the first time. This was not a dream. In his sleep, Mu Tao realized that he was not dreaming. He immediately scrambled up to his feet. "You said that you wanted to be the best interventional doctor. How could you forget so quickly?" Elder Wu's voice was low and distant. It was like the morning bell and evening drum. Mu Tao lowered his head in shame and looked at the book in Elder Wu's hand. The New England Journal of Medicine was the journal that Mu Tao could not forget. It was where the new TIPS surgical method had been published. Mu Tao suddenly woke up under the double pressure of The New England Journal of Medicine and Elder Wu. It was as if he had jumped from one space to another. He suddenly found himself in an unfamiliar operating theater, having fallen asleep in his seat. Wasn't he at the Mayo Clinic? He was still in a daze but then remembered that he had returned from the United States and was in the midst of earthquake relief. Through the leaded glass, he saw the circulating nurses in the operating theater busying themselves without touching the floor. A figure that he would never forget in his dreams stood in front of the radiographic film viewer, resting his chin on his hand as he looked at the radiographic films. Even though he was wearing a sterile mask and hat, Mu Tao could still tell who this person was at the first glance. Zheng Ren, Chief Zheng, the small chief resident from Sea City in the Dibei Province! So it was just a dream... It was really a dream... Mu Tao gradually recalled the previous situation. He had performed a lot of interventional embolization surgeries for severe pelvic fractures, but the number of injured people from the front line only increased rather than the other way around. No matter how anxious he was, he could not speed up the surgical process. Then...it seemed that Zheng Ren had also come. Right, why did he come? Didn't he have a Nobel Prize project on hand? Why did he come to the frontline? Mu Tao continued to recall. He sat there and watched Zheng Ren's surgery. It was the same interventional embolization surgery for severe pelvic fractures. The patients' conditions were similar, but Zheng Ren's surgical techniques amazed him. No matter how tortuous or thin the branches of the internal iliac artery were, no matter how successful the superselection was, it was impossible to tell how delicate his technique truly was. But just by using the simplest techniques and being witnessed by those around him, the surgery was completed. Mu Tao cursed himself in his heart. How could he be so disappointing? He fell asleep at this exact moment! But no matter what, he was almost forty years old. He was tired from the journey and flew from one side of the world to the other. He did not even take a hot bath before he rushed to the many villages and towns hospitals at the frontline and began to perform the surgery. He was wearing a lead apron. The continuous surgeries consumed too much energy. Mu Tao did not think about this, nor did he self-examine himself. Instead, he looked at the operating theater. Zheng Ren began to disinfect, and the circulating nurse was practically 'flying' around. The girl glanced at Mu Tao. She did not even have time to greet him. She shouted, "If Doctor Zheng needs anything, call me." After that, she ran out of the operating room and went to check on the aseptic bags that had been brought up. There were few people, and the task was heavy. Everyone was very busy. Mu Tao knew this, but he did not move. He crossed his hands and rested them on his cheek. He looked at the screen in front of him and outlined in his mind what he would do if he was by the operating table. Of course, there was no problem with the femoral artery cannulation. Placing the artery sheath was also a routine operation. The micro-guide wire entered directly instead of the conventional guide wire. This was a method that he was confident in. Some doctors did not pass the test. The thicker blood vessels at the front were more adapt for the thick guide wire. The guide wire entered, with the micro-guide wire followed from behind. He did not need the thick guide wire. Yes, Chief Zheng would not use it even if he wanted to. And then... Just as the simulation reached the next step, Mu Tao's eyes lit up, and the image on the screen began to move. Uh... Was it in position? Mu Tao estimated that he was at least ten to twenty seconds behind. His hand speed was really fast, so fast that it felt unreal. Was it because he was young? Mu Tao found an excuse for himself in his heart, but his eyes were glued to the screen. Sure enough, the micro-guide wire and micro-catheter were already in place. There was no need to do anything else. The moment he stepped on the line, he immediately started the contrast. The branches of the four internal iliac arteries were bleeding. The smoke-like contrast agent silently told Mu Tao this. Let us begin the selection. Mu Tao's eyes did not blink as he entered a meditative state. In front of him was his lifelong opponent. And now, it was his first time seeing the other party's surgical skills with his own eyes. He had to see what his level was like! The micro-guide wire went in. A 70-degree blood vessel branch did not stop the micro-guide wire at all. Others could not see it, but Mu Tao could. At the position where the blood vessel branch was angled, the surgeon's wrist and fingers which could not be seen must have made a move. Then, the power was transferred to the front end of the micro-guiding wire so that when it passed through the blood vessels, it would suddenly change its angle to achieve the surgeon's goal. The force, angle, and movement was perfect. Everything was perfect. Those who were slightly less perfect would not be able to tell that the micro-guide wire had made such a movement. Could he achieve it? It would probably be difficult... The superselection ended very quickly. Then, the micro-guide wire entered and started the embolization. What surprised Mu Tao was that after the embolization was over, the surgeon did not even bother to confirm with the angiography. He directly took out the micro-guide wire and catheter and carried out the next step of surgery. He was really full of confidence. Mu Tao did not think that the surgeon was operating against the rules. He was extremely confident in his methods and skills. If it was at a normal time or place, the surgeon would probably do an angiogram to confirm it. But now, time was of the essence. If he was confident, this step could be omitted. Mu Tao asked himself, would he do this? No...because if he did not confirm it, he really did not know if the embolism would succeed. The process of the second vascular branch embolism was the same. During the selection process, the more difficult position was just a movement of the wrist and fingers, and the power was transmitted to the micro-guide wire, crossing at an almost 90-degree angle through the extremely difficult blood vessel. Mu Tao looked like he was watching a horror movie. His eyes were still unblinking, but his heart was raging with turmoil. The four blood vessels were completely blocked in a few minutes. The technique... Other than the invisible movement, all of them were textbook standard and ordinary techniques. Looking at them separately, there was nothing special about it. He took a look at the time. 11 minutes. This was the biggest difference between them!
Chapter 688 - A Non-existent Lifetime Enemy
It was time for contrast-enhanced imaging. This surgery... Mu Tao was at a loss. Could Wu Haishi do it? He could not. Even when he was at his prime, he still could not do it. In the Mayo Clinic, could those big-shot demon-level characters who did not even look him in the eye do it? They definitely could not. Their standards were higher than his, but they were definitely not as high as those who were now in the operating theater. Was this because he had attained a level that was beyond comprehension? Mu Tao was very confused. When he thought about how he had previously defined this surgeon as his lifelong enemy... He now felt like he really did not
deserve to even be called his enemy. He was afraid that the other party had not noticed him at all. Countless thoughts churned in his mind. Three seconds later, Mu Tao's mind went completely blank. The surgeon did not remove the tube but started the next selection! No! Mu Tao quivered. He only took a glance at the surgeon's operation and knew the purpose for it. It was an extremely small branch of the internal iliac artery. The surgeon had to select and embolize the artery. Was there bleeding there? Mu Tao could not remember. He did not continue to look at the surgeon's operation. Instead, he began to analyze the previous image on the machine. Mu Tao moved the image to the first frame of the angiography. He frowned and looked for the tiny branch of the internal iliac artery that the surgeon was embolizing. There! There is was! On the screen, there was almost no leakage of the contrast agent. However, when the image was magnified, Mu Tao was sure that there was indeed damage here. That's what the contrast agent showed. It was just that the amount was very small. It was so small that he did not even notice it at first. He knew that if it were his surgery, a few large blood vessels would be embolized, and he would definitely need to do another angiogram. After another angiogram, he would discover that this small blood vessel was bleeding, and then the embolization procedure would begin again. This was the standard, textbook-like procedure. However, the surgeon inside had actually skipped many steps and discovered and embolized a very small blood vessel. Could it be ignored? The answer was no. After the other blood vessels were embolized, the blood pressure would rise. Right now, this small blood vessel did not seem to be bleeding much but would soon become the main bleeding artery. This was really... Mu Tao shook his head and looked at the surgery again. There were two similar blood vessels. When Mu Tao looked at the angiography image and analyzed it, the blood vessel had already been completely embolized. The tubes were removed, and the surgery ended without the need for a reexamination. This surgery was really a little...unrestrained? Mu Tao scrambled to think of the right word but could not find it. In the end, he could only describe his feelings with 'unrestrained'. The airtight lead door opened and Zheng Ren shouted, "Next!" Mu Tao was speechless. This was an assembly line...and he was the only skilled worker. While they were checking the numbers outside, Mu Tao stood up and prepared to temporarily act as a circulating nurse to help Zheng Ren with some post-surgery cleanup work. "Hello, Chief Zheng." Mu Tao walked into the operating theater, smiling as he greeted him. Zheng Ren was stunned for a moment. He looked at Mu Tao with a somewhat hollow gaze. What kind of gaze was that? Mu Tao was also stunned. Shouldn't he have responded to Mu Tao's warm words by greeting him and then reminiscing about the past when he was doing scientific research at the Imperial Capital to quickly close the distance? Could it be that he was too tired? "You are..." Zheng Ren was in an extreme state. Other than the surgery, he could not think about anything else. Even the matter of his father-in-law looking like Xie Yiren flashed past his mind. Who was Mu Tao? Why should he think too much? Zheng Ren asked the question bluntly. Although it was a little impolite, he did not want to waste any time. Even though he had just discussed with Su Yun about the person who was sleeping outside, Zheng Ren's current state was focused on the surgery. How could he remember such insignificant details? "Uh... I'm Mu Tao." Mu Tao was depressed. The other clearly did not recognize him. "Ah, Teacher Mu from Shenzhen City. Hello." When he mentioned his name, Zheng Ren immediately remembered. He just could not match his name with his face. Mu Tao was dumbfounded. "Teacher Mu, please help me put on an elastic tape. Just tear open the packaging. The pressure bandage will be done by the person outside," Zheng Ren said. Mu Tao began to look for the location of the elastic tape. As he looked, he asked, "Chief Zheng, did you use too much force on your wrist and fingers during the selection?" "Yes, the blood vessels of this injured person are slightly deformed. The angle of the fork is too large. The wrist needs to complete at least three movements and with the cooperation of the fingers, the selection will be successful," Zheng Ren answered matter-of-factly. Three? What three? Mu Tao's figure hesitated for a moment. His brain was like a CPU, operating at high speed. "Teacher Mu, let's do the surgery first. When we have time, we can go back and discuss it later." Zheng Ren was very tired. His c.h.e.s.t hurt badly, making even breathing feel excruciating. However, Zheng Ren felt that this was also beneficial. At least when it hurt, he did not seem to be so tired. In a way, it could be considered beneficial to him. He heard Mu Tao's question and saw Mu Tao's appearance. He knew what Mu Tao was thinking. If it were in the past, he would have taught a demonstration surgery. It was not a big deal. But now, there were countless patients waiting for surgery and rescue outside. Now was not a good time. Mu Tao also knew what Zheng Ren was thinking. He pondered for a moment and asked tentatively, "Chief Zheng, do you want me to set up the next one for you?" "Aren't you going to the other operating theater to perform surgery?" Zheng Ren asked. Mu Tao was embarrassed. He heard a trace of valuable experience from Zheng Ren's words. He was even sure that as long as he learned it, the gap between him and Zheng Ren would not be as big as he felt it was. As for surgery... If he could improve his level, he would be able to do it faster. Mu Tao comforted himself. "I just woke up. I'll set up a table for you so you can take a breather," Mu Tao said with a smile. "Sure." Zheng Ren did not care. At this moment, Chief Jiang came in with his men. He took the patient on the table and sent the next patient up. "Chief Jiang, how many more patients are there outside?" Zheng Ren asked. "Twelve. After the surgery, the patients were all sent to Huaxi and Provincial Hospital by the first-aid ambulance," Chief Jiang answered straightforwardly. This was the information that Zheng Ren needed. He nodded and finally saw a glimmer of hope. "Chief Jiang, if there are patients who need to be amputated, please help me keep an eye out for them," Zheng Ren said. "Uh..."Chief Jiang was stunned. Could Doctor Zheng be... "Doctor... Doctor Zheng, this isn't a hybrid operating room. It's a small place so we can't do hybrid surgery," Chief Jiang said hesitantly. "Oh, I don't want to perform a hybrid surgery. I want to remove the thrombus from the patient who needs to be amputated to improve the microcirculation. I want to reduce the cross-section for amputation as much as possible so that it will be easier to recover after the surgery," Zheng Ren said. Chief Jiang was not in the vascular surgery department, so he did not have a deep understanding of vascular intervention. He did not really understand what Zheng Ren said. However, he just followed the other's words. The people in front of him were all skilled, demon-like surgeons. There was no reason for him to waste his time.
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