Chapter 583: Turning Complexity Into Simplicity
“I think it’s just good luck,” said a tenured professor at the Mayo Clinic.
Indeed, that was the common thought of everyone present.
The surgeon’s luck was too good! It was so good that it made people envious!
Over the years, the Mayo Clinic had been researching new surgical methods related to TIPS surgery.
The Mayo Clinic was the first to develop new surgical methods, such as portal catheters, which were used as markers and puncture points from the hepatic veins.
After the application of the new surgical method, the process of blind puncture in TIPS surgery had been greatly improved.
After all, there was a special catheter in the portal vein as a marker, so there was a target.
In the past, the failure rate of blind piercings were particularly high, so only surgeons with plenty of luck and experience could be relied on.
With the marker, the success rate had increased a lot and been reduced from an average of about 20 needles for blind piercing to four to five needles.
However, because of the influence of the diameter and blood flow of the special marker catheter, they could not reach 100% success rate for one needle. Despite that, it was an extremely important milestone in the development of TIPS surgery.
Mayo Clinic could not guarantee that one needle would succeed, let alone five.
However, the surgeon in the video was actually so confident that one needle would succeed!
That was something that the doctors at Mayo Clinic could not accept at all.
If they were as lucky, then only could they make such judgment.
“Is there any more?” another doctor asked with a serious expression.
One surgery did not mean anything. He had to watch more surgical videos.
“Let me ask.” Wu Chuntian stood up and took his phone out.
..
..
Chief Qi stood in the operating room and chatted with Chief Liu.
Suddenly, his phone rang. He picked it up and looked at it. He frowned and walked out of the operating room.
“Old Wu, what’s wrong?” Chief Qi asked.
“Do you still have the surgery videos?” the other person asked.
“I think we’re doing eight or nine today. There must be more.” Chief Qi heard a hint of anxiety and impatience in Wu Chuntian’s tone. He could not help but feel pleased.
Especially when he thought of the arrogant faces of those students from America at their cla.s.s reunion. Wu Chuntian worked at the Mayo Clinic so his pride and ego were through the roof.
Last year, he had wanted to send a few people to the Mayo Clinic to learn through his methods but the other had brushed them off.
He had never thought that he would have such a day of retribution!
“Old Qi, please send me the video again,” Wu Chuntian said.
“Hehe.” Director Qi smiled steadily, full of intent.
“Old Qi, this is a big matter. It’s not a joke,” Wu Chuntian said.
“The video recording of the surgery must be done in full communication with the patient’s family. The hospital must also deduct a portion of the costs. Otherwise, there might be trouble in the future,” Chief Qi said.
However, he did not want to embarra.s.s the other side too much, so he immediately said, “But since Old Wu said so, I’ll definitely do it.”
“It’s hard to confirm things through just one video.” Wu Chuntian rarely opened his mouth to ask for help, so he was somewhat at a loss.
“It’s okay. There won’t be many patients who’ll allow the surgery to be recorded. You know that the country is still very conservative,” Chief Qi said slowly.
Wu Chuntian was so anxious that he was about to go crazy. He really wanted to see if the brand-new TIPS surgery method was 100% successful.
He did not think that Chief Qi was deliberately saying that. He pondered for a moment and said, “I’ll do some work here. The quota of overseas patients mentioned last time will be increased to four people. What do you think?”
“That’s too much for an outsider.” Since Chief Qi had achieved his goal, he did not think too much of himself and immediately said, “Then that’s it. I’ll go settle the patient’s family.”
After he said that, he hung up the phone.
He walked back to the operating room with a smile. When the department chief saw that the other was in a good mood, he was just about to come up and suck up to him before being chased away by Chief Qi to organize the surgery recordings and broadcasting them over.
The third TIPS surgery had already begun and Gao Shaojie’s technique was getting more and more skilled.
He had forgotten and accidentally knocked Gao Shaojie with a hemostatic forceps out of habit. Zheng Ren immediately apologized afterward. Gao Shaojie was a little absent-minded but his progress was obvious.
Zheng Ren was surprised but also a little happy. Old Gao had insisted on it, and he had mastered the new approach to the TIPS surgery in such a short period of time.
In a while, he would look at his technique. There were still a few key points to remind him about. He estimated that he would be able to handle the second-stage surgery on his own.
..
In the Mayo Clinic, everyone was watching the video again.
There was actually nothing interesting to watch. At most, they were just watching for fun.
The technique… The a.s.sistant. What method was used to find the puncture point? Everyone was still confused.
There were some descriptions in the journals but they were not very detailed. It was simply impossible to figure out the process of the new surgical method with the journal as the main source.
Soon, the email was sent again.
Wu Chuntian could not wait to open the email and download the video.
The internet speed at the Mayo Clinic was extremely fast, but Wu Chuntian still felt that the download time then took too long. It was so long that he could not bear it.
Finally, the download was completed.
Wu Chuntian opened the video and watched it quietly.
There was nothing new about the surgery. A patient lay on the operating table and then the surgeon began to lay out the sheet. The ‘a.s.sistant’ stood in front of the film reader and looked at the film with his chin resting on his hand.
It was as if the film was a playboy, tiger, or panther. He could not get enough of it no matter how much he looked at it.
It was no different from the previous video. The surgery went very smoothly. The only difference was that the hemostatic forceps in the a.s.sistant’s hand was not used this time around.
The puncture kit was completed in one go, followed by a membrane stent and a recyclable stent.
It was simple…to the point that one felt that it was boring.
Was this still TIPS surgery? Why did it look simpler than the puncture of a cyst under an ultrasound?
The puncture of the cyst under an ultrasound also used alcohol or a subst.i.tute to flush the cyst cavity so that it could be hardened.
In the video, the TIPS surgery was just needle insertion, puncture, and stent removal before being over.
Mu Tao suddenly thought of a joke.
Putting an elephant in the refrigerator required only a few steps.
Yes, everyone knew that the steps were that simple but no one in the world could do it. Of course, there was also no refrigerator that was that big.
That was why it looked so magical.
The second video of the surgery was still simple and clear. It was so simple that many doctors in the Mayo Clinic wanted to cry.
Turning complexity into simplicity was a skill.
After the video was played, everyone stared at the computer screen in shock. At that moment, no one was in the mood to comment or replay the video.
There was really nothing to watch.
Even if they watched the simplest step ten thousand times, they would not be able to understand the principle behind it. No matter what, they would still be unable to comprehend anything.
The laboratory was silent. The low rustling sound of electricity was so clear.
Ding! The sound of an email rang out. Everyone who was deep in thought was shocked.
Wu Chuntian clicked on the email, opened it, and played the video.
It was still the same boring surgery video. It was as simple and plain as the previous two.
The only thing that the few videos proved was that the article published in the New England Journal of Medicine was correct. Moreover, there were countless amounts of surgeries done beforehand to back it up.
A brand-new, radical new approach to TIPS surgery had emerged!