When the Doctor Uses A Hack

The surgery had yet to begin, but the scalpel in Chen Cang's hand had already become the focal point.

Everyone's eyes were fixated on this seemingly ordinary surgical blade.

For some reason, today, the blade seemed dazzling!

The liver transplantation procedure's most challenging core techniques involved two major steps.

And the removal of the diseased liver in the recipient was one of the most technically demanding parts of the procedure.

This was because most patients requiring liver transplantation often suffered from severe liver cirrhosis and portal hypertension. Furthermore, for various reasons, they often had a history of abdominal surgeries, such as cholecystectomy, splenectomy, or portacaval shunt, resulting in extensive intra-abdominal adhesions that frequently intertwined with abundant collateral circulation, making the removal of the diseased liver even more difficult.

Wang Dong's surgery had already progressed to removing most of the liver, leaving the gallbladder no choice but to be removed as well. This demonstrated the lead surgeon's expertise.

The key question was: how severe were the abdominal adhesions?

When the patient's abdomen was opened, the abdominal organs were exposed.

Everyone glanced at Wang Dong's abdominal cavity and couldn't help but marvel.

"Such a clean abdominal cavity!"

Zhou Hongguang looked at Chen Cang. "Did you manage this?"

Chen Cang nodded slightly.

Zhou Hongguang couldn't help but give a thumbs-up. "That's incredible!"

"Why don't you take over my post as an academician? I'll quit. How does that sound?"

Chen Cang glanced at Zhou Hongguang and smiled faintly. "I don't have the time."

Though the words seemed like a joke, everyone couldn't detect any humor in them. Instead, they felt... was Chen Cang being serious?

He Zhiqian thought it might be possible!

Because Chen Cang truly was extraordinarily busy. With the time it would take to vie for an academician title, couldn't he aim for the Nobel Prize? Or the Lasker Medical Research Award? If not, wouldn't even the Wu Jieping Medical Award sound prestigious enough?

Of course, a person of Chen Cang's caliber probably cared little about fame and fortune. Perhaps, with that time, he could innovate a new surgical method instead?

Alas...

He was just too busy!

Zhou Hongguang, seeing this, forced an awkward smile but couldn't help being deeply moved internally.

Meanwhile, Liao Jia shook her head; she thought Chen Cang was full of hot air.

Who wouldn't want to become an academician?

A lifetime honor, induction into the academic hall of fame—who wouldn't dream of being in it?

However, Chen Cang didn't seem to care about whether or not he would become an academician.

The most important task at the moment was successfully completing this surgery.

An abdominal cavity free of adhesions didn't mean the surgery itself would be easy!

With most of Wang Dong's liver gone, liver function was severely compromised, and the coagulation mechanism was also disrupted.

This meant there could be a significant challenge ahead: increased intraoperative bleeding!

Thus, there had to be a thorough assessment of potential surgical bleeding, and all encountered blood vessels needed meticulous ligation and careful hemostasis.

Evaluation and preparedness were exceedingly demanding for the lead surgeon!

At this time, everyone recalled that Chen Cang had already pre-warmed the blood earlier.

Had Chen Cang calculated everything even before starting surgery?

At that moment, everyone froze in place!

The surgery hadn't even started, but Chen Cang had already delivered a shocking impact.

Details!

It was all in the details!

Liao Jia didn't quite grasp it yet.

But Zhou Hongguang couldn't help but feel astonished.

At the highest levels of skill, everything boiled down to the small details.

A major surgery like a liver transplantation had to begin with attention to detail.

"Establish venous-venous bypass!"

While everyone was lost in thought, Chen Cang spoke to Zhou Hongguang.

Venous-venous bypass was critical. Chen Cang couldn't handle everything alone; he absolutely needed someone of his level—or even more advanced—to work collaboratively.

This was why he had invited Zhou Hongguang in the first place.

Training an assistant was incredibly difficult!

Honestly, in this world, there weren't many people willing to be perpetual assistants.

So, collaboration was the best solution.

This was also why Chen Cang had never built his own team.

The experts didn't want to come.

Training newcomers was painstakingly slow.

Ordinary attending physicians had fixed mindsets and often stuck to their comfort zones.

Rather than dealing with such issues, it was better to find like-minded directors to occasionally assist with high-risk surgeries.

During liver transplantation, the portal vein and inferior vena cava needed to be clamped. This prevented blood from the gastrointestinal tract and lower body from returning to the heart. As a result, the venous return to the heart dropped to less than half during clamping.

This led to serious organ congestion during the hepatectomy phase, increasing portal hypertension.

The consequence? Raised venous pressure in the already coagulopathy-prone cavity, where any bleeding could lead to catastrophic outcomes!

Moreover, the metabolic byproducts accumulating during the anhepatic phase would circulate after the liver was transplanted, potentially causing metabolic acidosis!

Mortality rates would skyrocket!

Therefore, this step had to be handled with utmost care.

Venous bypass required selecting three veins: the great saphenous vein, portal vein, and inferior vena cava.

During this process, Liao Jia suddenly noticed that the liver's vascular structures seemed to bear no signs of sutures!

Yet... the cutting marks on the liver were remarkably precise and evident.

Surprised, Liao Jia exclaimed:

"How was this achieved?!"

If even Liao Jia noticed, Zhou Hongguang certainly had as well.

He had seen the details long before!

It was precisely because of this that Zhou Hongguang had fallen silent.

To be honest, his initial intention in attending the surgery was simply to network with Chen Cang and owe him a favor.

But...

Throughout the surgery thus far, what Zhou Hongguang had witnessed was pure astonishment.

He was utterly overwhelmed by Chen Cang's techniques and skillset.

Amazing!

Liao Jia's comment went unanswered, leaving her face flushed.

Chen Cang, however, simply glanced at this young doctor who didn't know better.

But he said nothing.

After all, shouting on the operating table was a taboo, especially as an observer.

Realizing her mistake, Liao Jia blushed deeply, overwhelmed with embarrassment.

For a moment, she couldn't bring herself to stay any longer and hurriedly left the operating room in a flustered state.

Once outside, Liao Jia's face turned alternately pale and red, consumed with self-reproach!

To leave the operating room before the surgery had even begun...

How humiliating!

Although out of courtesy, Chen Cang and He Zhiqian hadn't directly asked her to leave, she couldn't shamelessly continue lingering there.

But watching that scene earlier had made her lose control.

Meanwhile, inside the operating room.

The coordination between Chen Cang and Zhou Hongguang was fairly seamless.

The intubation process was quickly completed.

Chen Cang turned and instructed, "Use the specially designed anticoagulant Silastic tubing to connect the bypass system."

Once all the venous conduits were successfully connected, the venous bypass system could begin operation!

In that moment, everyone heaved a sigh of relief.

The first step was finally complete.

The subsequent detachment and resection steps were traditionally the most difficult.

During a normal surgery, the patient's abdominal adhesions would undoubtedly be severe. Any attempt to separate them would almost certainly trigger massive bleeding.

Furthermore, a coagulopathy-prone condition aggravated the bleeding risk, making it the primary cause of intraoperative mortality!

But...

The patient's abdominal cavity at this moment showed no sign of adhesions!

The entire cavity was astonishingly clean!

Having performed surgeries for so many years, this was the first time Zhou Hongguang had ever seen a liver transplantation conducted in such a pristine abdominal cavity!

In that moment, the wave of emotions crashing through Zhou Hongguang's mind was unmatched.