"Dr. Zheng, we just need a quiet room for him, as long as nothing startles him. He doesn't have long. Look…"
"We do have some quieter rooms here in the emergency department, but we don't even know what illness he has and we don't have the manpower to provide him medical attention." Zheng Ren was in a tight spot.
"There's no need for medical attention or rescue." The old woman lowered her gaze. She gently stroked the silver mane on the patient's head; her expression was of love and tenderness. "All I ask is for a peaceful passing."
"Then follow me. We'll need you to sign a do-not-resuscitate order," Zheng Ren said.
The on-call doctor was aware of the manpower shortage in the newly-built emergency wards. Medical staff were stretched thin in the department. He did not understand why Zheng Ren was opting to take in this patient.
Of course, Zheng Ren had his reasons.
It was a minor issue to write up a patient's history. If Chang Yue was not willing to do it, he would personally do so. It would take four to five hours at most.
Four to five hours of his break time, that is.
The old woman was good-natured and Zheng Ren wanted to help her with this small matter.
"Thank you so much," she said to Zheng Ren.
Zheng Ren called on two staff members to move the patient to the emergency wards.
Chang Yue saw the arrival of the new patient and got the necessary doc.u.ments ready. Although the patient was not in for emergency surgery, she processed him as per routine without any complaints. She was calm and caring as she dealt with them.
The arrangement put the old man in the last room. Chang Yue spoke with the family and asked after the patient.
Zheng Ren left relationship-building to Chang Yue and went to the office, recalling Old Chief Physician Pan's words.
Many things in this world were illogical.
The world was not black and white, but shades of grey.
A person who was lauded by many would also have many enemies. There was always the flip side of a story.
After a few minutes of thought, Zheng Ren laughed. He started thinking about how to go about with Zheng Yunxia's treatment.
Philosophical discussions… Those were the least of his concerns.
"Chang Yue, what time is the CT scan?" Zheng Ren asked when Chang Yue walked in.
"Six in the evening."
"Fasting?"
"Miss Yun is still young and her blood sugar is normal, so there shouldn't be an issue."
"Alright. Call me when it's time." Zheng Ren paused for a moment and asked, "Can you help me ask if I can perform the CT scan reconstruction?"
"You?" A look of surprise was evident on Chang Yue's face.
"Yes. The usual 3D reconstruction is based on standard algorithms. As I am the surgeon, I would like the reconstruction to be customized."
Chang Yue's eyebrows furrowed. Since her foray into the medical field, she had never heard of a clinical physician wanting to perform the reconstruction themselves.
She wondered if Chief Zheng had lost some of his senses after the hundreds of surgeries.
Zheng Ren studied Chang Yue's expression and clued in on her thoughts.
However, to explain the whole situation would require too much effort and she might not understand it even then. The knowledge was beyond the abilities of most doctors.
In the medical world, specializations were honed to be narrow and in-depth. The wooden bucket theory did not apply here.
Anyone with Master-ranked skills in a particular specialization would have a certain degree of fame. Zheng Ren did not enjoy the same treatment as his skills had been developed through the System within a short period of time.
Many specialists did not bother to pick up a second specialization. Medicine was a form of practical science and no specialist was willing to start from square one again.
There were few people in the hospital who could parse the data generated in the ancillary departments, let alone operate their equipment.
Custom configuration? It was impossible.
The office was quiet. Yang Lei was in the corner of the room typing up a patient's history on the computer. His presence did not affect the conversation at hand.
Chang Yue stared at Zheng Yun with confusion in her eyes. After a silent pause, she nodded and said, "I'll ask Su Yun."
"Where is he?" Now that she mentioned the man, Zheng Ren noticed his shadow was nowhere to be seen.
"He went to arrange the CT scan."
Chang Yue took her phone and dialed for Su Yun.
After hearing the request, Su Yun had the same negative reaction as Chang Yue but he folded at her insistence.
No one was invincible, it seemed; the ancestors were right.
After 11 cartons of beer and losing the drinking match, Su Yun could no longer hold his head high when it came to Chang Yue.
"He'll try to ask. It shouldn't be a problem," Chang Yue told Zheng Ren after the call, a touch of disbelief still on her face.
Zheng Ren did not address her doubts. The emergency department office fell back into silence.
The emergency department received a case of acute appendicitis in the afternoon. Zheng Ren and Yang Lei performed the surgery.
The surgery ended near six in the evening, so Zheng Ren left Yang Lei to attend to the family and went to the CT room to prepare for scan reconstruction.
At the CT room entrance, Zheng Ren heard a voice.
"You youngsters think you're masters of everything? The doctors in Imperial Capital don't even perform their own 3D reconstructions! Are you guys mad?"
Chapter 152 - Custom Configuration Part II
Zheng Ren rubbed his face and tried to make his smile look more friendly.
After all, he had come asking for help. Although Su Yun was the one who had asked for a favor and would be the one humiliated if something went south… It was better not to put on a stern expression at all times.
"Sister Zhao." Zheng Ren pretended as if he had heard nothing and entered the CT operator's console room with a smile on his face, which was a rare sight. His sudden appearance made Su Yun, Chang Yue and the rest jump in astonishment.
"Chief Zheng, I don't mean to criticize you." Zheng Ren's humility softened Sister Zhao's tone, but she still had issues with the absurdity of his request.
"Please, go ahead." Zheng Ren signaled that he would not retaliate even if he was scolded or beaten.
"3D reconstruction of CT imaging is a very complicated procedure. No one completely understands it, even when the machines have been here since the establishment of the hospital." As she operated the machine examining Zheng Yunxia, Sister Zhao said, "After that, the hospital sent three batches to undergo training in this domain, and it took me a whole year before I could understand just a teeny-weeny bit of it."
"Yes, yes…" Zheng Ren smiled without the slightest hint of embarrassment.
"You said you want to do 3D reconstruction of a CT scan?" Sister Zhao was getting more unhappy and asked, "Have you learned it before?"
"I've seen your operation once, so I want to give it a try."
"..." Su Yun was dumbfounded.
'What the f*ck, that's what I always said!'
"..." Sister Zhao was left speechless as well. She was quiet for a while and replied, "The machines are too expensive, so I can't allow you to fool around with it. I'll supervise you, and if something goes wrong, I'll terminate your procedure at once."
"Of course." Zheng Ren kept a low profile as always.
Nowadays, it was getting increasingly difficult to ask others for help, but Zheng Ren perfectly understood Sister Zhao's worries. If she had informed him that she was good at surgery and wanted to perform an appendectomy, he probably would kick her out of the operating theater.
Even if Su Yun had proven his capability in surgery, Zheng Ren was still reluctant to let him perform surgery alone. He was not actually trying to suppress the growth of the younger generation…
Was he or Su Yun younger? Zhen
g Ren had no idea, but he simply preferred to perform every operation himself, especially in a special case due to his expertise in surgery.
"Half an hour," said Sister Zhao in the end.
"Sis, half an hour isn't enough," Zheng Ren replied, "A conventional 3D reconstruction of CT scan requires about half an hour per patient, but I'm going to perform a reverse 3D reconstruction of CT scan, which is going to take me at least two hours."
"!!!" Sister Zhao turned her head and glared at him.
What was this guy talking about? Reverse 3D reconstruction of a CT scan? What the hell was that?
"It uses the principle of conventional 3D reconstruction of CT scans to locate abnormally proliferating blood vessels, retrospectively trace weaker signals back to their origins and create a 3D image out of it," Zheng Ren summarised quickly after noticing Sister Zhao's dark expression, "Sis, you don't know what happened in the surgery last time. One of the tumor-feeding arteries originated from the phrenic artery, which I successfully found after standing for four hours in a lead apron that weighs a few kilograms."
Sister Zhao's expression instantly changed.
Zheng Ren's words sounded exaggerated, but it was the truth, and it forced Su Yun to swallow the criticism that had been about to slip past his throat.
"You really know how to do it?" Sister Zhao reconsidered Zheng Ren's words. Although she had never seen such a procedure before, logically speaking, it was doable. However, the time required would be… astronomical.
It was not that the medical staff in the CT room did not want to do it, but the machine cost a fortune and its operating software had been developed by large transnational companies. No matter the size of its coffers, it was impossible for the hospital to directly purchase ten sets of software.
Even if the hospital did do so, retrospectively performing 3D reconstruction of a CT scan would take hours to complete. Manpower was simply inadequate in such a situation.
This was a special circ.u.mstance; one that Sister Zhao, an experienced deputy chief of the CT room, had never encountered in her lifetime.
"Give it a try, then." Sister Zhao's curiosity prevailed over her anger and she agreed to his request.
Half an hour later, the necessary tests on Zheng Yunxia were done and a conventional 3D reconstruction of CT scan had been completed as well. Sister Zhao then stood and let Zheng Ren take over the operator console.
"Little Su, does he really know how to do it?" Sister Zhao remained unconvinced. Even though Zheng Ren's words sounded reasonable, it was just theory. Anyone who had read the book for days could come up with promising ideas, but not everyone could deliver on them.
"I have no idea." Su Yun smiled bitterly. "I've never seen anyone personally performing 3D reconstruction of a CT scan in Union Medical College Hospital, let alone a reverse technique."
"You're really a smart brat. I've been wondering how you were transferred to the emergency department. It turns out you've found yourself a good boss," Sister Zhao teased.
"Sis, there is no need for me to find one. I'm my own boss." Su Yun brushed aside the black hair framing his forehead.
"If he really knows how to do it, it would be amazing. With his proficiency in surgery and CT imaging, not to mention an annual salary of one million yuan in a southern private hospital, someone would definitely hire him for an annual after-tax salary of five million yuan," said Sister Zhao, slightly envious.
She had been thinking about resigning in spring, so she had taken paid leave to visit the south and sent her resume to a few hospitals, which was how she was aware of market rates.
However, she had to suspend her resignation to work in the south ever since her lover suffered intracranial hemorrhaging.
Even so, she was aware that salaries were meted out meritocratically in the south.
Zheng Ren's hands flew all across the console skillfully.
An outsider would find it easy to believe that a chief of a CT room from a well-reputed hospital was showing off his skills.
Su Yun was caught in a trance as well. 'Zheng Ren even knows how to perform 3D reconstruction of a CT scan? When did he learn it?'
The moment Zheng Ren began the operation and the initially-constructed image of the liver on the screen began to rotate, Sister Zhao fell silent and stared attentively at the screen.
She was mulling over the reasons behind each of his movements.
Her initial fear, that Zheng Ren would wreck the machine, was forgotten.
Breaking the CT machine? From his proficiency, this emergency surgeon could probably even repair the machine if it broke down.
Onscreen, Zheng Yunxia's hepatic tumor tissue was fully under control after interventional radiological treatment. The periphery of the ten-centimeter tumor had become necrosed and organized, but due to its large size, the tumor-feeding artery had not been fully embolized yet.
This was on purpose to prevent liquefactive necrosis that could lead to septicemia and bacteremia. Sometimes, necrotic cells could destroy the neighboring cells, and once a capillary was affected, it could rupture and bleed, which was a fatal condition.
The diameter of the tumor had shrunk to around five centimeters, indicative of effective surgical control.
However, Zheng Ren remained unsatisfied and attentively searched for something frame by frame.
Ten minutes…
Twenty minutes…
One hour later…
Su Yun was getting sleepy. Even though he was extraordinarily talented, he could not understand what Zheng Ren was looking for as he had not learned about 3D reconstruction of CT scans before.
Even Sister Zhao failed to understand the procedure as well.
The images flashed past their eyes frame after frame, and he occasionally backtracked to quickly glance at the original data before continuing his search.
What the hell was he doing?!
Chapter 153 - Custom Configuration Part III
"Sis, what is he doing?" Su Yun asked softly, bored and curious.
"I don't know." Sister Zhao stared unblinkingly at the screen, completely forgetting the time.
"..."
"I think he is looking for an abnormal signal near the liver edge to see if it's a tumor-feeding artery," Sister Zhao guessed.
"That's so troublesome."
"In general, no one does it in this country, but internationally… I've never checked any related information, so I'm not too sure about it, but only those specializing in interventional radiology can do it." Sister Zhao paused briefly and continued, "Some of them can't even perform it to such a degree. Although those working in the radiology department are involved in interventional radiology, barely anyone in the CT room knows how to do this."
Su Yun remained silent. Despite his doubts and inability to understand Zheng Ren's operation, the man's hand speed alone… he could participate in a professional league of Honor of Kings.
Accurate, fast and decisive.
Another fifteen minutes later, Zheng Ren moved his hand away from the mouse and snapped his finger.
"He found it?" asked Su Yun.
He stole a peek at Sister Zhao at the same time.
As deputy chief of the CT room specializing in the 3D reconstruction of CT scans, Sister Zhao looked puzzled as she had no clue what Zheng Ren had found.
"Yes, right here. A new tumor-feeding artery." Zheng Ren casually wiped his sweaty palm on his white coat and continued the operation.
Once the end of the pathological vasculature—as thin as a strand of hair—was successfully located, subsequent procedures were plain and simple.
A few minutes later, a tortuous blood vessel emerged onscreen. The artery was visibly heading upward, after which it took a hairpin turn and went back to its point of origin.
It was just like the Yellow River, full of twists and turns.
The 3D reconstruction of the CT scan was completed after ten minutes. The blood vessel had originated from the short gastric artery.
Sister Zhao fi
nally let out a sigh of relief.
That was f*cking amazing!
Even after witnessing the entire operation in person, Sister Zhao could only understand half of what had been done.
She was sure that even if Zheng Ren personally taught her the most crucial steps of this operation, there was no way she would be able to master it in one to two months alone.
"Where do I print the films?" asked Zheng Ren.
"H… Here." Sister Zhao clicked a button, causing the machine to roar for a while before the films were finally printed.
"Colored films can be printed only tomorrow." She was still in a trance.
"That won't be necessary. It's more than enough for me to locate the source of the abnormal tumor-feeding artery." Zheng Ren stood up with a smile, obviously in a good mood.
Finding the pathological blood vessel using the machine in the CT room was a hundred times better than wearing a weighty lead apron and constantly exposing onself to radiation in the interventional radiology suite.
Zheng Ren preferred not to do the latter even with the System's lead apron with radiation energy conversion properties.
'It seems like the fickle-minded System gave me a reasonable reward,' Zheng Ren thought happily.
"Ah!" Sister Zhao suddenly exclaimed.
"What's the matter, sis?" asked Zheng Ren.
"I still have to fetch my kids later!" Sister Zhao instantly panicked. The amazing operation engrossed her so deeply that she had forgotten about everything else.
With a panicked gesture, she pushed Zheng Ren and Su Yun out of the room, quickening her pace while putting on her coat at the same time.
"Sister Zhao, let me send you there." Su Yun quickly caught up with her.
Zheng Ren stared at the back of the vanishing duo, presuming that Su Yun was shamelessly offering his help despite getting rejected by Sister Zhao.
Su Yun had made a good call. Sister Zhao had been of great help to Zheng Ren, and he would feel responsible if she was involved in a traffic collision due to her haste.
It was almost eight o'clock when Zheng Ren casually returned to the emergency ward.
Hunger started gnawing at him after he instructed Yang Lei to go home, but it was past dinner time already… Whatever, he could not be bothered to fill his stomach now.
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