This was the ward?
Qin Liren stood in front of the hospital room with a sour expression.
There were four patients and a dozen visitors in the room. The air was stuffy and unbreathable to Qin Liren.
One of the patients was an end-stage cancer patient. Their yellowish skin and gaunt face made Qin Liren shudder—a subtle reminder of what could become of him.
It was unbearable. He quickly grabbed his phone and dialed his friend.
"Old Xu, thank you for helping me out with the hospital.
"Can I request a single room? Money is no issue. I can't tolerate staying in such a crowded room.
"I see. I understand."
Qin Liren hung up in disappointment. He remained by the hospital room door, unmoving.
There were many Class Three Grade A Hospitals in the country, but service varied by city. Occupancy rates differed among Sea City, Provincial Capital and Imperial Capital.
Getting warded already required significant connections. A single room…
Qin Liren's request had immediately been denied by his friend as single rooms were reserved for people of a certain status. It had nothing to do with money. He would not have earned a single room pre-retirement, let alone now.
"Come on, let's go in," Qin Liren's lover whispered.
Qin Liren let out a disgruntled huff. Being looked down upon irritated him.
He weighed his options.
Qin Liren's mind was still sound and he came up with several alternatives.
He could go back to Provincial Capital, admit himself into a better-quality ward and invite this professor to operate on him there.
Or he could stay here and endure these living conditions…
He thought for a moment and decided to remain in Imperial Capital. He entered the room with his suitcase in tow.
"Hi mister, are you checking in? How long did you wait to get in?" a voice piped up as Qin Liren walked in. It was a young man, honest-looking and likely bored by his circ.u.mstances.
Qin Liren frowned but said nothing.
His negative response went unnoticed by the man. "I waited for almost a month. Luckily, I ran into Dr. Sun, who helped get me in."
That lightened Qin Liren's mood a little.
He had known from the beginning that getting a spot in Imperial Capital Hospital was incredibly difficult. Hearing the patient's story made him feel much better about his own situation.
The air seemed more bearable now.
'I can live with this,' Qin Liren thought to himself.
Chapter 215 - Let’s Hope This Data Is Not Fabricated (Part 2 of 5)
"Old Bao, what do you think?" Department Chief Kong asked when the two men left the wards.
"Hm?" There was nothing beyond a muted response from Department Chief Bao.
"Su Yun. The Lancet." Simple words that had heavy implications.
"Su Yun was from the cardiothoracic department, so you might not know him that well." Department Chief Bao sifted through his memories and said, "Two years ago, he attempted 3D bioprinting for heart transplant. When I first heard of it, I thought it a joke. Since when had technology progressed this far?"
"And?"
"I hadn't realized 3D printing had been incorporated into the medical field, so I admitted my mistake," Department Chief Bao said with a smile.
Although he had been upstaged by Su Yun, he held no grudges. He had high expectations for the young man.
Doctors were always happy to see technological advancements being translated from bench to bedside as the ultimate beneficiaries were always patients. Department Chief Bao had sworn to pay more attention to current research to avoid a similar incident from happening again.
"3D bioprinting? I've only heard of it being used in orthopedics to develop artificial joints. What did Su Yun do?" Department Chief Kong asked.
"Su Yun reached out to West China University for a collaboration. They used 3D printing to seed and culture cells to develop a heart for transplant."
Department Chief Bao's tone filled with reverence as he spoke.
He shook his head. "Even now, I still find it unbelievable."
"He managed to make it work?" Department Chief Kong was equally skeptical.
"In a way. They cloned and cultured mice cells, then 3D-printed a model heart. The artificial heart was then used for transplant by Su Yun. You know how small a mouse is. We don't have a microscope for surgery here in our department so the boy went to the trauma department for three months. At the end of his tenure, the trauma chief wanted to keep him there. They even sent someone to his house to beg him to stay."
"Huh." Department Chief Kong could empathize.
"Su Yun performed the transplant and watched over the mouse for 107 days."
"And?"
"Well… According to stories, the mouse made a full recovery. One night, the cage was open and the mouse escaped. They had to terminate the study."
It was the opposite of what Department Chief Kong had guessed. He expected to hear that the mouse had died on the ventilator after 107 days of care.
Who would have expected the mouse to escape!
Clearly, the surgery was a huge success.
No wonder Su Yun could have published in The Lancet.
"Amazing!"
Department Chief Bao continued his story. "It's what I heard. Yunlong's group made their own attempts on it as well but their postsurgical case was inadequate. They only managed to keep their mice alive for 3 days at best."
"Hm." Department Chief Kong felt his heart tremble.
"I knew this boy wouldn't lay low for long. I already predicted it when he left Imperial Capital. But who knew…"
"Who knew what? That he would come back with a young boss?"
"Truthfully, back then… No, even now, if Su Yun wanted to do research under my group, I would definitely have made the institute waive all fees and give him a scholarship. I'd be willing to let him manage my research funds. But Old Kong, how did he even find that young boss of his?" Department Chief Bao said regretfully.
On the topic of Zheng Ren, Department Chief Kong's expression became serious. "The boss? A lifetime of surgeries, and in the end, you're still just a surgeon. Liver cancer often starts from Hepatitis B, worsens into liver fibrosis and cirrhosis, then finally ends in carcinoma. Patient compliance for Hepatitis B drugs remains low, so deterioration occurs quickly. As the nodules become cancerous, it is difficult to differentiate them using radiological methods, making early detection improbable. The traditional method is to flood the liver with Lipiodol and allow any remnants of the contrast agent to point to carcinoma. But this method…"
"No need to lecture me about liver cancer. Was the surgery he performed that important?" Department Chief Bao frowned. His old friend seemed a bit perturbed at the mention of Dr. Zheng and the surgery. Perhaps it was a passion rekindled?
"In my opinion, Dr. Zheng's surgery was more important than Su Yun's heart transplant. Do you know how prevalent cirrhosis is? If we can detect the early signs of malignancy, we can extend the lifespan of the patient by at least a year, even without stopping the disease's progression."
His words rendered the cardiothoracic surgeon speechless.
Those numbers were a big deal.
The two men became silent and the conversation was over.
They could not get the image of the seated Zheng Ren with Su Yun behind him out of their minds.
Heroes often arose from within the younger generation, but the speed of their progress was unbelievable.
'Let's hope this doesn't end up like the genetic engineering scandal,' both department chiefs thought.
They parted ways in silence.
Department Chief Kong waved goodbye and headed for the interventional radiology department.
"Chief, you're back," Chief Resident Shen said at the sight of his superior.
"Em," Department Chief Kong mumbled absentmindedly, heading straight to his office.
In the office, he p
ondered the genetic engineering scandal.
That article had been published in Nature Biotechnology by leading scientists in the field of bioengineering. The study had garnered strong reactions from the public and the group had been touted as the next Nobel Prize winner.
Sadly, the experiment had not been replicable by other groups, which suggested possible data fabrication.
The authors then requested that Nature Biotechnology take down the article.
Although quick action had been taken, experts in the field agreed that the results were not repeatable. Hence, the experiment was trashed.
Cases like this had also happened in other countries.
Every year, there were two to three major scandals in the global scientific community.
Department Chief Kong wondered if the doctor from Sea City had lied about his method. The likelihood of such a scenario gradually increased as he continued thinking.
Zheng Ren was just a chief resident from Sea City. How could this leap in diagnostic methodology have fallen into his lap? The possibility of such a thing happening was just too small for Department Chief Kong to accept without question.
Su Yun's adamance at Zheng Ren being the lead surgeon in the trial surgery also raised his suspicion.
This was clearly a coverup!
Perhaps Su Yun's previous 3D-printed heart transplant had also been based on fabricated data? After all, it had not been replicable by other surgeons.
Chapter 216 - Out of Sync (Part 3 of 5)
As restless as he was, Zheng Ren obediently stayed in his single room for the next two days.
He spent most of his time sleeping and replenishing his energy.
Su Yun did not show up for those two days, citing multiple meetups as an excuse. Zheng Ren let the fellow be. Aside from sleeping, he read novels and talked to Xie Yiren. He was living the life of a true nerd.
On the second day, they gave him another antibiotic drip. His fever had subsided and he felt much better.
He was still young, so a swift recovery was expected.
Cui Heming had been transferred out of the cardiology observation ward and Zheng Ren made the effort to visit and talk to him whenever he had the chance. Cui Heming's recovery filled Zheng Ren's heart with ease.
On the third day of Zheng Ren's hospital stay, Department Chief Kong brought Professor Gu and Department Chief Bao to pay him a visit. Worried that Professor Gu might disagree with his judgment, Department Chief Kong dragged the chief of sports medicine along.
The congregation of department chiefs livened the atmosphere in the thoracic wing of the hospital.
A bewildered Zheng Ren was bombarded with questions from the old professors and department chiefs. What was going on?
Despite his frustration, Zheng Ren played the perfect patient and answered their questions.
He endured a few rounds of questioning, then decided to provide a comprehensive commentary on his own symptoms, recent developments and findings from several physical examinations. His answers matched standard ward round questions to a tee.
The sight of the fully-healed Zheng Ren relieved Professor Gu.
"How I wish every patient was as cooperative," the chief of the sports science department said before leaving the room.
With Professor Gu's approval, Zheng Ren was allowed to be discharged.
He turned to look around the hospital room—it felt like he had spent years in it.
"Little Zheng, I'm assigning you five patients. Are you confident enough to take them all on?" Interventional Surgery Department Chief Kong asked stiffly.
"Confident?" Zheng Ren was confused.
To him, it was just a surgery. Confidence was not required. Perhaps Department Chief Kong felt paranoid and worried about mistakes during the embolization procedure.
"Yes. Are you confident you can repeat the procedure you did two days ago?" the department chief barked as he scowled at Zheng Ren.
"Every surgery is different." How could he repeat the exact procedure? Every case had its own characteristics; why else would he need to perform retrograde reconstruction of 64-slice CT scans?
As the interventional surgery department chief in one of the most renowned Class Three Grade A hospitals nationwide, he had to know this basic principle—every patient was unique.
How odd.
Zheng Ren and Department Chief Kong were on different ends of a path, each walking in the opposite direction.
Zheng Ren's reply made Department Chief Kong's heart stop.
If every surgery was different, did it mean that he would not be able to replicate the procedure?
If it was not replicable…
This had better not garner any bad press.
"Little Zheng, you're still young. There will be many opportunities to come. Sometimes the quickest route to success may not be the most sustainable one," Department Chief Kong advised earnestly.
"Em, okay," Zheng Ren answered to placate the department chief, although he was not sure what the man meant.
Seeing Zheng Ren's serene expression, Department Chief Kong sighed. Although he did not want Zheng Ren to perform the surgery, a part of him was curious as to how the young man would fare.
Department Chief Kong decided that all he could do was to maintain proper surveillance to ensure that there was nothing fishy about the procedure. He would interfere and stop the surgery if anything looked off.
"What preparations will you need?"
"Standard admission check-ups, along with contrast-enhanced MRI. The 64-slice CT scan must be done in this hospital and I want to personally handle the retrograde reconstruction."
"Retrograde?"
"Yes. Using the tumor as the focus, we'll search for potential arteries that could act as its nutrient source," Zheng Ren replied honestly. He had no intention to keep his technique a secret.
Was this his explanation? Department Chief Kong's distrust in Zheng Ren was intensifying. The interventional surgeon had never heard of this technique.
"It would provide the best outcome if it's done by the surgeon," Zheng Ren said.
"Surgeon…" That was a warning sign. Zheng Ren wanted to do everything himself.
There were no assessments that specifically required a surgeon's expertise. All presurgical checkups were done by ancillary staff while surgeons only receive reports and scans.
Was he joking when he said the scan had to be performed by the surgeon?
"Dr. Zheng, are you sure?" Department Chief Kong had abandoned his pursuit of this new method of diagnosis, instead suspecting that Zheng Ren and Su Yun were pulling a fast one on them all.
He looked at Zheng Ren with pity in his eyes.
This was a promising surgeon with impeccable skill in interventional surgery. If only he had not fabricated his results… there was really no need for him to. Given a few years, Department Chief Kong was sure Zheng Ren could rise through the ranks.
The youth were too impatient and skipping steps was not the way to go.
Department Chief Kong let out a small sigh.
"Are you feeling unwell?" Zheng Ren asked. It was possible, given the chief's strange questions and behavior.
The department chief only shook his head.
"Chief Kong, are the five patients in the ward now?"
"Yes."
"Can I go have a look?" Two days of rest was enough to make Zheng Ren feel antsy for a surgery.
"Are you really confident?" The same question was fielded again.
However, the point of reference for the question kept changing.
'Is the chief feeling alright?' Zheng Ren thought. 'Why is he constantly asking me if I'm confident? Is he suffering from analysis paralysis?'
"I'm ready whenever your side is ready," Zheng Ren said after some thought. He wanted to send the correct message.
"Then let's go."
The two men headed to the interventional radiology and surgery department. Along the way, Zheng Ren contacted Su Yun, telling him to meet them there.
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Department Chief Kong brought him to the office.
Zheng Ren had been there before, so the walkways were familiar. He greeted the doctors who passed them by.
He could not remember which doctor had been on call that day, so he greeted them all.
One of them retrieved the files from a computer. "Here are the details of the five patients."
At that moment, Su Yun appeared behind them and glossed over the details on the computer screen. He turned away, as if unimpressed by what he saw.
As Zheng Ren started on the case files, Department Chief Kong could not help but bring up the issue one last time: "Little Zheng, I want to ask you something."
The interruption surprised Zheng Ren. "Ah? Go on."
"Are you positively sure about this?"
After a moment's thought, Zheng Ren politely responded with a question of his own. "Is there a difficulty on your end? If there is, we can cancel the procedure."
Chapter 217 - Familiarity in a Foreign Land (Part 4 of 5)
Department Chief Kong was speechless.
A pair of innocent and confused eyes gazed at him. Zheng Ren truly could not comprehend Department Chief Kong's hesitation.
Similarly, Department Chief Kong was at a loss. Despite his obvious hints, Zheng Ren was still in denial.
In the end, the old chief gave up. 'Let us try his method. If anything goes wrong, I'll be there to handle things.'
He had already agreed to the surgery prior. Going back on his word would paint him as the bad guy.
Throughout his long medical career, Department Chief Kong had met countless liver cancer patients. General surgery was rarely a viable option. Interventional surgery was a better choice but there were limitations to targeting. The whole liver was typically pumped with lipiodol and chemotherapy drugs during interventional treatment.
If there was a slim chance that this new procedure would work, Department Chief Kong was willing to try it.
Even at the cost of his reputation.
"Just keep going through the case details." The department chief forced a smile that ended up looking more like a grimace. "I'll talk to the patients. If there's anything you need, let me know."
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