Surgery Godfather-Chapter 469 - 427: The Academician’s Ward Round

The professor from Xiehe Hospital flew from Beijing to Sanbo Hospital to personally invite Yang Ping.

Shortly thereafter, a group of professors from 301 will also fly to Sanbo, with the same purpose.

A young doctor has managed to summon these professors from top-tier hospitals.

It’s said that every year, Tsinghua and Peking University swoop in to poach top students from each province after the college entrance exam, storming homes with a full team, pulling out all the stops to portray their own advantages while mercilessly revealing the other university’s weaknesses. They grandly promise numerous benefits, even unabashedly asking if the student has a girlfriend. If the girlfriend’s performance is up to par, they offer to recruit her in as well.

Yang Ping is being treated this way right now, with 301 and Xiehe standing as the Tsinghua and Peking University of hospitals.

The young women in the administrative department, who have impressive abilities to spread news, much like online shopping search capabilities, immediately seize upon these developments.

The young doctors and old directors alike are all sighing. The young doctors can’t help but lament, why isn’t it them. Merely being associated with the prestigious Xiehe, not even talking about income, one could still live a decent life.

301, with its imposing military uniform, the fusion of a soldier and a doctor, many men dream of this.

And another advantage any other hospital cannot compete with --- even China’s most notorious medical troublemakers have to avoid it.

The young women in the hospital have also begun to reflect. If they had taken the initiative in the first place, then the future wife of the head of that eight-story building could have been them. In the future, they might be the wives of wealthy professors from Xiehe or 301, or even more boldly, the wife of an academician.

It’s said that Dr. Yang was single when he came here. How did Nurse Su from the operating room spot him right away? Regrettably, the stock has already skyrocketed, and there’s no capital to make a move now.

Since he has come, Professor Liang naturally wants to take a look at Yang Ping’s Comprehensive Orthopedics Department, as well as the operating room.

He’ll stay for dinner in the evening to discuss possible cooperation between Xiehe and Sanbo Hospitals. Professor Liang suggests that Yang Ping can hold a position at Xiehe, periodically participating in surgeries and case discussions.

Don’t underestimate this position, Xiehe only sends its own doctors to other hospitals, it does not bring doctors from other hospitals to Xiehe.

Professor Su from Nandu Affiliated Hospital One will also come over to have dinner with Professor Liang.

All are prominent figures in the orthopedics field, it’s rare for them to meet. This is a rare opportunity and they must sit together to catch up.

Under the guidance of the secretary in the office, the crowd moved toward the Comprehensive Orthopedics Department, taking the opportunity during a gap in a phone conversation between Professor Liang and Professor Su.

Director Han quietly asked, "Did the negotiation with Xiehe go successfully?"

Until his death he must know, he still must ask even without a certain result. Although, he already knows the outcome from their expressions.

"It went well!" Yang Ping replied with a smile.

Director Han felt a dull ache in his heart while simultaneously feeling happy for Yang Ping. This matter could finally be put to rest.

Feeling a bit dazed and unable to catch his breath, Director Han felt his eyes getting slightly moist. He scolded himself for being too sentimental and giving others a chance to laugh at him.

Professor Liang was still on the call while Director Han and Yang Ping were whispering to each other.

"When are you leaving?"

"Not leaving!"

"Not leaving?"

"I never said I’d leave."

"Didn’t you say the negotiation went well?"

"Yes, it did, but I’m not leaving."

You rascal, playing tricks on this old man, Director Han’s face immediately split into a grin and he seized the opportunity to share the news with a despondent Dean Xia.

Dean Xia, if not for his many years of experience in hiding his feelings, would have burst into laughter.

At this moment, the two leaders felt as light as goose feathers, walking on air.

"Did the old man really let you go so easily?" Director Han was still not at ease.

Yang Ping looked at Professor Liang, who was still on the phone, and said, "He said he’d accept it as long as I didn’t go abroad."

Under the tree, to block out noise, Professor Liang covered his mouth and continued to call Professor Su. Looking at Professor Liang’s figure, Director Han felt a surge of inexplicable emotion.

"Please!"

Dean Xia smiled.

Professor Liang hung up the phone, followed by Director Hu, Song Yun, and several doctors from Xiehe.

"Su Qingyun has to come over tonight. Good. We can have a get-together." Professor Liang said while walking.

That’s good. Dean Xia and Director Han aren’t very familiar with Professor Liang, but they are very familiar with Professor Su. With Professor Su accompanying them, the dinner will be even more harmonious.

Arriving at the Comprehensive Orthopedics Department, several quick-witted standardized training students, prepared by Zhang Lin, brought white gowns. Everyone put on their white gowns, whether they fit or not, they just needed to make do on the spot.

Through force of habit, a group of doctors from Xiehe, following behind Professor Liang, formed a ward round in the Comprehensive Orthopedics Department of Sanbo Hospital.

"Here, we’re about to change it to Comprehensive Surgery, the entire building, all eight floors, will all be given to Little Yang." Dean Xia introduced proudly.

"Soon a foundation will be established specifically to provide continuous funding for the scientific research in this building."

"The Comprehensive Surgery Department will have complete independence for finances, personnel matters, and equipment procurement."

"We will have private operating rooms, ICUs, and rehabilitation departments here---"

The implication of Dean Xia’s words was that here, at Sanbo, Yang Ping could truly have boundless freedom and vast possibilities.

Professor Liang stopped, everyone else stopped too, and the group stood still in the corridor.

After a moment of contemplation, Professor Liang said: "We can’t call it the Comprehensive Surgery Department. This name isn’t quite right. If we want to open up all the research and clinical authority of surgery, I suggest you name it--- the Surgical Research Institute. This would be more appropriate."

Dean Xia mulled over Professor Liang’s suggestion. Surgical Research Institute... Doesn’t that position it as an institute within the hospital? Naming it the Surgical Research Institute seems classy, grand, and high-quality, much better than the commonplace Comprehensive Surgery Department.

Truly an academician, well-educated, even the naming is tasteful.

"So, what do you think?" Professor Liang was quite satisfied with his own suggestion.

Dean Xia responded cheerfully: "Let’s call it the Surgical Research Institute. What do you think, Xiao Yang and Old Han?"

"Integrating clinical and research, taking a new path, sounds good. Do you have any recent new ideas? We could collaborate," Professor Liang was particularly impressed with several papers by Yang Ping. They showed real innovation.

What sets Xiehe Medical University apart from other medical schools is its unique blend of school and hospital. The Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Beijing Union Medical College are one entity, unified under one administrative system.

If Sanbo Hospital establishes a Surgical Research Institute, integrating the lab and the wards, that would be progressive.

This kind of system is the most suitable for tackling medical challenges and groundbreaking work.

A surgeon could perform surgeries with impeccable skill, but that can only take him to a basic level, there’s always a ceiling to the best of surgeries. Even having a superb aim with a firearm, a bullet can only do so much.

Moving up from there, the next stage would involve improvements or inventions of new surgical techniques to enhance surgical safety and effectiveness and allow a greater prevalence of surgery. This could be considered middle-grade.

Further up from that, is innovation in fundamental theory, which pertains to the advanced stage. Updates in basic theory can change the entire concept of a diagnosis and treatment, bringing revolutionary changes to treatment methods.

The treatment of gastric ulcers, for example, once used partial gastrectomy; then upgraded to selective vagotomy, and eventually to highly selective vagotomy.

No matter how perfectly these surgeries are done, the results are not satisfactory.

Not until new basic theories about gastric ulcers emerged---the discovery of Helicobacter pylori in the stomach---did it became unnecessary to operate on gastric ulcers. Patients just need medication, triple or quadruple therapy for a few courses, to be cured completely.

Barry Marshall, a professor of clinical microbiology at the University of Western Australia, was awarded the 2005 Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine for revealing the relationship between Helicobacter pylori and gastritis.

When Barry Marshall was studying Helicobacter pylori, a doctoral student in China also extracted an unknown bacterium from the stomach even earlier. He was overjoyed, thinking he had found something new. His tutor scoffed: "The digestive tract is open, people always have to eat, and there must be bacteria in the food. It’s not strange to extract bacteria in the stomach." The doctoral student thought it over, "True!" So he abandoned his research.

The doctoral student eventually became a professor, but he missed the opportunity to win the Nobel prize. Every time he thinks of it, he regrets it deeply.

Professor Liang was very fond of doctors with imagination and innovative ability. He considered them to be true talents.

There were many new ideas, but which one to share?

Yang Ping pondered and then spoke, "I am designing an external fixator frame for correcting scoliosis, aiming for non-surgical correction of scoliosis."

Upon hearing this, Professor Liang said: "Yang, your idea is very innovative, but it requires a lot of research work to realize. If it really works, it would be a revolutionary innovation."

This young man, full of daring ideas, he liked him more and more.

"Currently, there is a six-year-old boy in the ward suffering from severe scoliosis and concomitant cardio-pulmonary dysfunction. Dr. Yang is preparing to use this new method for correction." Director Hu, familiar with ward cases, introduced it to Professor Liang.

"Oh! Let’s see, it is rare to see a six-year-old with severe deformity!" Professor Liang was very interested.

Little Five and Zhang Lin immediately stepped forward to show the way. They knocked, entered, and everyone moved to the ward.

Song Zimo gave a brief introduction to the patient’s family. The parents, both local ordinary civil servants, were immediately nervous when they heard that an academician had come to check on their sick child.

The mother stood aside, not daring to say a word. The father was clearly so nervous he was stuttering a bit.

Professor Liang carefully inquired about the medical history and then personally examined the child, reviewing the X-rays and other imaging pictures one by one at the bedside.

The little boy blinked his eyes, gazing at the group of people calmly. He was accustomed to the attention; every time he went to the hospital, he was surrounded by a bunch of people discussing and taking pictures of him.

A six-year-old child can’t be treated as a miniature adult or a pre-teenager. He is in the middle of growing up. When the research on scoliosis wasn’t mature, many such cases happened. Children were operated on using standard procedures. After the surgery, the doctors felt that the operation was successful, but after a few years, the deformity occurred again, even more serious than before.

This was because they did not take into account the normal development of the child’s spine. They didn’t sufficiently consider the ensuing growth, so instead of achieving the desired effect, the surgery backfired.

Now Yang Ping is trying a daring attempt, adjusting the deformity of the spine using Ilizarov’s "tension-stress principle". It will be difficult to actually implement it.

This theory has been successfully applied to the correction of limb deformities. Professor Qin Sihe of China has achieved great success in correcting various complex limb deformities with external fixators. He has given special reports on orthopedic surgery at the "Limb Lengthening and Reconstruction Center" at Queen’s University in the United Kingdom and at the "International Limb Deformity Training Course" in the United States for orthopedic physicians from 44 countries. He was also invited to do teaching surgeries in Russia and other countries.

This is unprecedented among Chinese doctors.

"We’ve been to many hospitals, and the doctors were helpless. One doctor recommended us to come here and find Dr. Yang. He said he had seen Dr. Yang perform surgeries and had read his papers. Dr. Yang’s research on such cases should be the most profound."

The boy’s father gathered his thoughts and finally managed to say it clearly.

"He was absolutely right. Dr. Yang’s research on these cases is above other doctors. We are here to learn from Dr. Yang this time. You guys should cooperate well."

Professor Liang was amiable and approachable, showing no airs or intimidation.

The child’s parents immediately relaxed a bit, feeling more reassured. If even the academician admired Dr. Yang so much, what else was there to say?