Surgery Godfather

Chapter 379: Chapter 0359: The First Shot

In the fourth round, surgeries for pelvic acetabular fractures have not been performed by anyone for several days.

Many doctors have requested the organizing committee to change the competition format to live broadcasts for all surgeries. They suggested that similar types of operations be performed simultaneously within the specified time, with real-time scoring for more excitement and contrast.

However, concentrating all the surgeries and scoring into one time frame is probably not realistic.

Both the contestants and judges are doctors, who are extremely busy. It would be difficult for all of them to convene at a predetermined time.

A small number of judges watch video replays in their free time to score, deliberating carefully before awarding each point.

Unlike sports competitions, which are straightforward and clearly determine winners and losers, a single surgery can be broken down into dozens or even hundreds of steps, accompanied by various other aspects.

Even if live broadcasts are used for the final round, judges are still expected to complete the scoring within 24 hours, without immediate scoring required.

Therefore, due to their specific nature, it’s hard for all surgical procedures to adopt direct live scoring.

Those who want to watch live can do so, and those who don’t have time can watch replays.

Some people pointed out that with video, the ones operating earlier would be at a disadvantage and the latter ones would have the advantage to avoid mistakes made earlier.

While this makes sense, each surgery is unique. And with the lack of detailed directives in the public surgery scoring rules, those directives lay in the hands of the judges.

Only after all participating doctors complete such surgeries, will the reasons and details of point deductions be published.

Before that, even if you knew that earlier surgeries had points deducted, you wouldn’t know where they were deducted.

For instance, only the detailed directives would state the selection of sutures for patients whose surgery grading must consider visual demands.

It would be difficult for others to learn lessons from the surgery without the publication of the reasons and details of point deductions.

Regarding pelvic acetabular surgery, everyone maintained a cautious attitude. No one rushed to operate first and they were all waiting for others to make the first move and potentially make a mistake. It seemed that only then would they feel at ease and secure.

In Sanbo Hospital’s orthopedics teaching room, a hand-drawn anatomical diagram of the pelvis was frozen on the high-definition screen.

Then, it was switched to a drawing of a right acetabular fracture.

The patient’s acetabular fracture was rather severe, classified as a Judet-Letournel double-column fracture and an AO C23 type.

The patient’s radiological images, including anterior-posterior pelvic images, anterior-posterior right hip, obturator oblique and iliac oblique X-rays, and pelvic and acetabular CT scans with 3D reconstruction, were all displayed.

On the X-ray images, six radiological markers—the posterior and anterior rim of the acetabulum, the dome of the acetabulum, the teardrop, the ilio-ischial line, and the ilio-pubic line—were specially colored in.

All the case materials were meticulously sorted, with every detail carefully considered. As Song Zimo explained onstage, Yang Ping listened with the others from below. In integrated orthopedics, standardized training students were now required to learn drawing as a basic skill to foster image thinking abilities.

All surgical steps were expressed in hand-drawn diagrams with annotations. The several major steps, as well as dozens of minor steps, didn’t delve too much into detail, yet allowed an overall grasp on the surgery, striving for perfection and revealing the team’s deep and meticulous understanding of the procedure.

“No one has started yet, everyone is waiting. Should we wait too?” Though Takahashi had not been on stage, he had long considered himself a part of the team.

Through such a substantial event, he had learned many things from Yang Ping, such as preoperative diagnosis, the choice of surgical indications, preoperative preparation, surgical planning, and postoperative rehabilitation, thoroughly studying the entire diagnostic and treatment process.

“I don’t think we need to wait anymore. They won’t gain a significant advantage by waiting. It’s simply a waste of time,” Song Zimo believed, regarding the pelvic acetabular fracture surgery in the Southern Division.

“There are no flaws in our surgical plan. I suggest we proceed,” Xu Zhiliang agreed with Song Zimo’s opinion.

“If nobody objects to the surgical plan, then let’s start the operation at half past eight tomorrow morning,” Yang Ping decides.

In fact, Yang Ping’s thoughts on the surgery had far exceeded the competition requirements. He passed this mindset and approach onto Song Zimo.

Thus, Song Zimo’s understanding of this surgery had surpassed the scoring syllabus.

If the intraoperative procedure faithfully adheres to the plan, this surgery would be another flawless operation.

Song Zimo stood on the podium, habitually unbuttoned his white coat. The second-in-command team member confidently turned off the screen. The operation would commence tomorrow.

——

The website preview announced the imminent surgery at Sanbo Hospital.

The entire country’s divisions were all the same, holding back and waiting for the first to proceed.

Funnily enough, Sanbo Hospital was the first to initiate surgery, with a resident serving as the primary surgeon. Some even doubted whether Yang Ping was only Sanbo’s mascot and if he needed Song Zimo’s support to complete the regional competition.

If not for the competition, Professor Hong would not have had the time to relax.

Wen Rentao, Mu Jun, and Zeng Ran gathered in the teaching room to watch the video.

Wen Rentao was also waiting for the first to initiate, and if no one else made a move, he would take action.

“They are brave to be the first one to perform this surgery,” Mu Jun, the vice-director physician who was also the primary surgeon in the competition, commented jestingly.

“The resident is performing this surgery, seems like they are making room for him to complete the regional competition?” Mu Jun chuckled.

“They are speeding too fast; are they risking a crash this time?” Mu Jun continued to remark.

Wen Rentao remained calm, “I don’t think so. With Sanbo’s strength in trauma orthopedics, it’s unlikely that this resident with basic solid skills would fail for pelvic acetabular fracture surgery.”

The more everyone downplayed Sanbo, the more they were intrigued to watch. Perhaps that’s what curiosity does.

At this time, the usual strategy was that the main team would postpone their surgery, whilst the secondary team would go first to scope out the situation, in order to minimize mistakes made by the main team.

“Who lets the assistant do everything? This primary surgeon must be a special figure, someone who’s using the Golden Knife Award to make his name known,” Mu Jun snorted.

Every profession has such people. Incompetent and just wanting thrills, they try to garner an impressive reputation. How? They seek loopholes and shortcuts and let others prop them up.

“The rules of the Golden Knife Award state that, in the regional competition, an assistant is allowed to conduct all the surgeries. These are just basic procedures, so they do not affect the evaluation of the primary surgeon. Let’s wait and see,” Wen Rentao responded impatiently to Mu Jun.

The surgery began, and the level of skill was enough to silence anyone.

Certain details could be gleaned from the hip joint surgery of the pelvic bone.

With Yang Ping’s help, Song Zimo’s control over surgical procedures had already far surpassed his past skills.

An excellent surgeon must be able to command his operations smoothly. This is the manifestation of the invisible comprehensive ability.

Let the surgery proceed according to your will, rather than being led around by the nose by it.

Drivers must control their vehicles, bosses must control their businesses, chefs must control the heat and ingredients, and basketball players must control the pace of the game.

The rhythm of the surgery was entirely under the control of the surgeon: make an incision, stop the bleeding, make another incision.

The level of proficiency in the local anatomy of the pelvic bone made it hard to believe that the surgeon was a young attending physician under thirty.

“The surgery is getting stuck. It’s a waste of time,” Mu Jun said, noticing the gradually slowing pace of the surgery.

“The external iliac vein and obturator vein anastomosis are most likely to show variants here. They need to slow down and proceed cautiously until the anatomy is clear, then they can speed up,” Wen Rentao offered a different perspective.

Just based on this pelvic acetabular fracture surgery, it indeed represented the top national standard.

The strategic slowing down at the potential appearance of variant blood vessels or nerves already surpassed many surgeons.

Perhaps, even in the Magic City Sixth Hospital, few surgeons could be found with such a surgical consciousness.

This operation strategy was like driving a car: when reaching a dangerous section, such as intersections, pedestrian crosswalks, or bends, the driver would instinctively slow down, shift the foot from the accelerator to the brake, prepared to stop at any moment. Once past the intersection, and confirmed safety, they would speed up and leave quickly.

This was the experience Yang Ping shared with Song Zimo: in pelvic acetabular fracture surgery, he advised several points to slow down, which allowed risk avoidance and prevented unnecessary trouble and wasted time.

However, most people did not understand the significance of such an operation. It was like people who knew nothing about music listening to a piece, finding it entirely chaotic.

“Why slow down? It’s not the location of the death crown,” Mu Jun failed to understand.

“Pelvic surgery has a low probability of encountering variant blood vessels and nerves. But once encountered, if the knife doesn’t stop, it could risk the patient’s life,” Wen Rentao had to explain.

Wen Rentao identified three points where Song Zimo slowed down, but there were a few more he did not understand.

A doctor can’t harbor any luck. For a doctor, the risk may be one in ten thousand, but for the patient, it is one hundred percent.

A variant anastomotic branch was picked out with a vascular forceps, clamped, cut, ligated, and then the surgery proceeded quickly.

Wen Rentao couldn’t help but inhale sharply; the low probability event had actually occurred. If there had been no deceleration during the surgery and the knife had passed over, it wouldn’t just have endangered the patient’s life, it would have also resulted in a significant blood loss, at least a thousand milliliters.

Given the same training and number of operations as himself at Mo Sixth, Song Zimo might have indeed become his rival. Unfortunately, he went to Sanbo Hospital.

No matter how you look at it, with all its history, Sanbo Hospital could not possibly produce a Golden Knife Award champion.

The surgery was executed cleanly, with very little blood loss. The placement and force of the several hooks were also extremely fitting.

None of the acetabular hooks slipped out, and there was never a time when the exposure of the surgical field was poor and required adjustment from the primary surgeon.

The muscle relaxant from the anesthesia was sufficient, making the exposure of the operation field very easy.

Takahashi is indeed formidable, having helped Sanbo foster such talent.

“Their hidden mentor is Takahashi Fumiya!” Wen Rentao stated as the perplexed Mu Jun stood nearby.

Mu Jun trembled inwardly. Takahashi Fumiya, a master in the international trauma surgery field, gained renown worldwide in his early forties. Takahashi was strict, and Mu Jun had been scolded by him numerous times during his training in Tokyo.

“No wonder they have Takahashi-Sensei’s guidance,” Mu Jun finally understood why they didn’t fail.

Calling Takahashi Fumiya “sensei” was not an exaggeration. Both Wen Rentao and Mu Jun had been trained by Takahashi in Tokyo, and their experiences with his strictness still lingered in their minds.

“I called and asked, Takahashi is not in Tokyo, he’s in China. As for where in China and what he’s doing, no one in their department knows, or they’re keeping it confidential. I think, he should be in Sanbo Hospital,” Wen Rentao was confident in his judgment.

With Takahashi’s training, Sanbo Hospital’s trauma orthopedics would definitely not be weak. Mu Jun felt a bit intimidated, not by Sanbo, but by Takahashi.

“Takahashi sensei can only increase their level in trauma orthopedics, and can’t improve much in the short term,” Mu Jun tried to comfort himself.

“For the pelvic acetabular fracture surgery, you’re scheduled for tomorrow. Feeling pressured?” Wen Rentao asked.

It did feel a little like playing the role of cannon fodder. With Wen Rentao present, Mu Jun didn’t harbor aspirations of winning the Golden Knife Award, he could only play the part of the cannon fodder.

In other words, Mu Jun’s team was there to assist. It was an arrangement made by Hong Zhigang.

Song Zimo’s surgery was already completed. If they were swapped into the position of judges, from where would they deduct points for this surgery?

What you thought of, he thought of. What you didn’t think of, he did.

Their level in trauma orthopedics was indeed not bad, Wen Rentao had always thought so.

Zeng Ran hasn’t spoken for some time, possibly due to some psychological shadows.