Surgery Godfather

After taking a break in the changing room, Yang Ping planned to go home for dinner and play with his son. The little guy would get immensely happy every day when he saw him.

Just out of the operating room, the resident doctor of the Institute, Dr. Li, called to say that the Trauma Emergency Center had transferred a decapitated patient and specifically requested Professor Yang from the Institute for urgent technical support.

Decapitated? Yang Ping was astonished.

The head and body separated? And still alive upon reaching the hospital? How could that be possible? Is head reattachment intended?

In so many years of practice, I've seen hand reattachment, foot reattachment, ear reattachment, tongue reattachment, and genital reattachment, but never head reattachment.

Brain tissue suffers irreversible damage in 4-6 minutes of ischemia and hypoxia. If the head truly separated from the body, how could there be any chance of reaching the hospital alive?

"Are you sure it's a decapitation? The patient is still alive? What's the condition of the vital signs?" Yang Ping didn't have time for many questions; he directly asked for the most critical information. Simplicity and bluntness are often most effective.

In the most urgent circumstances, what's critical is the immediate priority, while the reasons behind the situation become relatively secondary.

Dr. Li, who was at the emergency department, said the patient had just completed an emergency CT full-body scan. Although the ionizing radiation of a full-body CT scan is significant, it is the fastest way to obtain satisfactory information from the examination.

Once the patient was through the machine, the condition of the whole body was clear at a glance.

The resident doctor, Dr. Li, said: "That's right, the patient is still alive, but the vital signs are extremely unstable, with very low blood pressure, posing a constant life threat, and is about to be transported to the emergency operating room, Director Tan is also on-site.

Yang Ping understood; this guy must be talking about an "incomplete severance," right?

Currently, the major generals of the Institute were all on the operating table, only Yang Ping could go for the consultation, and they specifically named Yang Ping.

Yang Ping dared not delay. At the moment he received the call, he hurried to the emergency department, where the resident doctor, Dr. Li, immediately welcomed him and led him to the emergency operating room.

Everyone was busy with the rescue, coming and going, no one was walking without purpose.

At this moment, the patient had completed the CT scan and was transferred to the operating table, the head was already shaved.

The doctors led by Tan Boyun were divided into two groups, one scrubbing, the other washing.

There was an open wound at the back of the neck, with skin scattered, evidently suffering a high-speed, powerful impact on the back of the neck.

Under such impact, the force-bearing site suffered a severe fracture and dislocation, causing the bony, ligamentous, and joint capsule connections of the cervical vertebrae to all tear here.

However, since there was still a slight amount of muscle and skin continuity around the cervical vertebrae, the patient's head and body were not completely severed.

Presumably, the blood supply vessels on both sides must at least have one side maintaining some continuity, otherwise, without blood supply to the brain tissue, the patient would have already died at the injury site.

Yang Ping came to the electronic screen, and the CT images were already spread out on the screen.

Dr. Zhao was not wrong to use the term decapitated.

The patient was completely severed at the junction of the sixth and seventh cervical vertebrae, with a separation distance spanning the width of two vertebral bodies. The vertebral arteries on both sides, one side was completely torn, with a substantial accumulation of blood visible around, the other side was connected by an artificial blood vessel, and the CT showed the shadow of the artificial blood vessel.

"When he arrived, the vertebral artery still continuous on one side was largely blocked, and I inserted an artificial blood vessel for connection and expansion, thus maintaining the blood supply to the brain tissue," Director Tan said, referring to the CT images.

An excellent team plays a crucial role in emergency surgery, and Director Tan's superior procedure won time for subsequent surgeries. Without the artificial blood vessel connection, even a deity couldn't have saved him.

Director Han's recommendation to have Director Tan come to Sanbo Hospital, and handing over the Trauma Emergency Center and Orthopedics to him was justified; the other directors truly lagged behind him. Tian Yuan had good professional skills but lacked the boldness of decisive action and immediate intervention.

This bridging vessel represented an extremely advanced emergency mindset, able to swiftly identify the primary factor amid the chaos and execute it.

It was precisely this little channel that maintained the patient's barely detectable life signs, preventing brain ischemia and resultant brain death.

The muscles were mostly torn, the skin was still partially connected, this was already indistinguishable from decapitation.

"The back of the neck was struck by the arm of a high-speed machine, causing paralysis of the limbs, reliance on a ventilator for breathing, the brain received minimal blood supply, and the bleeding was severe, we've already transfused a lot of blood, transferred from a lower hospital," Director Tan reported to Yang Ping, while directing the doctors to sterilize and drape.

This situation is very rare, considered an emergency among emergencies, with extremely high surgical difficulty.

The operation had to be fast to quickly restore blood supply to the brain, an organ severely intolerant to ischemia, only if the surgery was fast enough could the patient's life be saved.

When it comes to speed, who at Sanbo Hospital could be faster than Yang Ping? He's the quickest scalpel, even a few seconds faster could mean more chance of success.

The strong-willed Tan Boyun didn't gamble with the patient's life at this moment. He didn't insist on taking the stage himself but sought help from Yang Ping at the first moment because Yang Ping's speed was faster than his.

Within a few exchanges of words, sterilization and draping were completed.

"Scrub in!"

Yang Ping didn't hesitate much and immediately scrubbed in along with Tan Boyun. This hand washing was also completed hastily, much faster than usual, emergency situations require emergency actions, while ensuring basic quality, everything was kept simple.