Surgery Godfather
Chapter 1024 - 847: Another Professor?

Chapter 1024: Chapter 847: Another Professor?

"Lunch was courtesy of Qiu Ruo, who said it was to thank Yang Ping and that she would often trouble him in the future for professional advice."

"To save time, lunch was brief. Qiu Ruo had intended to chat with Yang Ping during the meal, but soon realized he was a workaholic. The few words exchanged at the table concerned case discussions, completely oblivious to her deliberate grooming."

"After lunch, everyone returned to the department to gather and discuss cases."

"These case discussions weren’t very formal. There was no need to sit upright; everyone gathered casually, speaking their minds without fear of misspeaking. The treatment plans for departmental patients were decided after such discussions."

"Complete resection of the tumor is no longer realistic, but palliative treatment is possible by thoroughly removing the tumors that irritate the nerve roots, relieving their irritation and compression, and thus alleviating or reducing pain and improving the patient’s quality of life."

"For the patient with cervical hemangioblastoma, this was the final conclusion."

"The tumor and cervical spinal cord were like milk poured into sand. Separating the milk from the sand would inevitably cause damage to the sand as well."

"The overall direction of the surgery had been determined; how to handle the scalpel in the complex crannies of the vertebrae was a matter of technical skill."

"The team led by Yang Ping at Xiehe was independent. Their ward’s patients were admitted by the department’s own doctors. Song Yun, a young associate chief physician, would usually see the outpatients. Kong Weiquan, as attending physician, sometimes saw outpatients as well, and the patients were generally admitted by the two of them, with Professor Liang sometimes taking in patients for them."

"This group of young people had risen rapidly within Xiehe, now representing a benchmark department and becoming the envy of other young doctors."

"When Yang Ping first arrived at Xiehe, out of the promised 45 beds, only 10 were delivered. However, with the effort from Professor Liang, the Medical Services Office, and the support of the hospital leaders, all 45 beds were soon in place."

"For Hospital 301, the cooperation with Yang Ping followed shortly after Xiehe, but the collaboration hadn’t really started due to bed allocation issues. In major hospitals, bed numbers were tight and sensitive. Without additional bed allocations, to carve out so many beds would mean taking from other doctors and departments, and that’s not an easy task."

"If it weren’t for Professor Liang’s prestige, his firm stance, and the strong cooperation from the Medical Services Office and hospital leadership, how could the 45 beds be secured? So many interests were involved, so many people offended."

"The initial 10 beds were forcefully taken from other doctors and departments, while the additional 30 were obtained through the Dean’s persistence at the ministry level."

"At Hospital 301, Dean Liu filed a report, and with the support of higher-ups, an additional 45 beds were specifically allocated for Yang Ping—a game-changing event for a major hospital."

The next case was introduced by the attending doctor in charge of the ward. "This case is a 42-year-old female. Five years ago, she began to experience weakness in both lower limbs, which worsened significantly one year ago, leading to difficulty walking. The diagnosis suggested an occupying lesion in the lumbar spinal canal!----"

"This is a patient referred from a lower-level hospital. They suspected an intraspinal tumor, but were uncertain about it and feared cervical involvement, so they didn’t dare perform surgery and referred the patient to us."

Song Yun made a point to add some medical history details for each patient.

Yang Ping glanced at the information and immediately said, "A tumor can be ruled out. This is an inflammatory granuloma caused by parasite infection, most likely Sparganum Mansoni. Go ahead with the surgery. Where is the head MRI?"

Everyone looked at each other, surprised by Yang Ping’s assertive diagnosis.

"I’ll expedite the head MRI. The patient was just admitted yesterday and had no previous head MRI. It was ordered by Director Song yesterday."

The attending doctor looked at Song Yun.

Despite his youth, Song Yun was already an associate chief physician. A doctor could be promoted to this role two years after obtaining their PhD, though that was merely the minimum requirement in terms of tenure; there were many more rules and criteria for advancement.

"Since the patient was suspected of having a tumor, we added a head MRI to the procedure," Song Yun explained.

Yang Ping had seen many cases in the System Space. The MRI images of such cases were clear at a glance—definitely a parasite infection. Judging by the imaging, the parasites likely first settled in the brain, then migrated to the cervical spine, and finally moved to the lumbar spine to take up residence.

"The head is the parasite’s old home; this is just their last stop. Didn’t this patient have a history of epileptic seizures?" Yang Ping inquired further.

The attending doctor shook his head: "No, the patient didn’t mention it."

"She has a history of paroxysmal coughing lasting for eight years, and the cause has never been found," Song Yun added.

"The paroxysmal coughing could be an atypical presentation of epilepsy. There’s a classic saying in neurology—don’t rule out epilepsy for any unexplained paroxysmal symptoms," Yang Ping stated, clarifying a case everyone thought was complex with just a few words.

"Let’s see the head MRI report when it comes out. Next!"

Because of the need to save time, Yang Ping directed the group to move on to the next case.

There were many patients with spinal deformities, accounting for nearly half of the cases. One was particularly severe, with congenital spinal dysraphism and defects in the posterior part of the vertebrae, causing the spinal cord to bulge backwards into the vertebrae. Such a condition made spinal deformity correction surgery extremely risky, with a high chance of causing paralysis. Typically, doctors would advise against surgery when faced with this situation.