Chapter 151 - 150: I Have Two Requests

Chapter 151: Chapter 150: I Have Two Requests

At 11:25 PM, Yu Zhiming rushed to the director’s office of the Neurosurgery Department at Huashan Hospital.

There, he met Teacher Qi Yue; Dr. Chen Xiao, the director of neurosurgery; and Dr. You Weixian, the deputy director of neurosurgery, who was known as the hospital’s "number one scalpel."

Also present was a man named Shen Zhe. He was nearly sixty, had an unknown identity, and carried himself with a dignified air.

After Teacher Qi made the introductions, Yu Zhiming greeted the other three men with the humility of a junior before being led to the light box.

He glanced at the five sets of cranial MRI scans on the light box, where he could clearly see a tumor with irregular edges, about the size of two candied hawthorns.

’A skull base tumor, of all things!’

Yu Zhiming didn’t bother examining the scans closely. Instead, he turned his gaze to Teacher Qi.

"Teacher, let’s save some time. Just tell me why you called me here."

He added self-deprecatingly, "Never mind a skull base tumor, considered the most difficult surgery in the world. I can’t even perform a simple craniotomy."

Qi Yue resisted the urge to smack the kid with a brick. He glared at him and said, "I called you here for a reason. You have your use."

"As for the specifics of what you’ll be doing, listen carefully to what Doctor You has to say."

Doctor You, forty-five years old and in the prime of his career as a neurosurgeon, met Yu Zhiming’s gaze and gave a wry smile.

"Dr. Yu, I can’t perform the surgery for this skull base tumor. To be more precise, the chances of success are minuscule."

Doctor You explained further, "With a success rate of less than ten or twenty percent, on top of a terrible prognosis that includes cognitive impairment and near-total paralysis, it’s simply not worth the risk."

"After careful deliberation, we’ve decided to adopt a more conservative and safer treatment method to prolong the patient’s life as much as possible."

Doctor You went over to the light box and began marking on the scans with a pen as he explained.

"We’ve collaboratively designed two puncture pathways that will cause minimal brain damage while leading directly into the tumor."

"Through this puncture, we’ll implant radioactive iodine-125 seeds into the tumor to suppress its growth, thereby buying him two to three years, maybe even more."

Hearing this, Yu Zhiming finally understood why he’d been summoned. ’So I’m just the tool again, here to perform a brain puncture.’

’Only this time, the job was a bit more sophisticated: implanting radioactive seeds into the patient’s cranial tumor.’

Radioactive seed implantation therapy for tumors, also known as brachytherapy, is a type of interventional treatment.

It uses imaging guidance techniques, either with a puncture needle or through direct surgery, to implant sealed radioactive nuclides into or around the target tumor tissue.

By continuously releasing radiation, these nuclides kill tumor cells, thereby achieving the therapeutic effect.

As Yu Zhiming looked at the two puncture pathways to the tumor that Doctor You had marked, he couldn’t help but frown.

One of the pathways actually passed through the brainstem.

The brainstem is composed of three parts, from bottom to top: the medulla, the pons, and the midbrain. Its primary function is to maintain a series of vital physiological functions, such as respiration and digestion.

The slightest damage to it can have devastating consequences.

’And this is what they call a relatively safe treatment method?’

Yu Zhiming asked bluntly, "Doctor You, I recall from my medical studies that if bleeding in the brainstem exceeds ten milliliters, the patient is essentially beyond saving."

"This pathway requires piercing the brainstem. What happens if there’s the slightest mistake? The risks involved are..."

Faced with this direct question, Doctor You gave a faint smile and replied, "Dr. Yu, there are two reasons..."

"First, the patient has insisted that any brain damage from the puncture must not negatively impact his cognitive functions or his ability to sit, stand, and walk."

"Aside from this risky approach through the brainstem, we couldn’t come up with any better pathway."

"And second... Director Qi has indicated..."

Doctor You met Yu Zhiming’s gaze and continued, "...that you, Dr. Yu, have the ability to avoid the blood vessels in the brainstem region and prevent any bleeding that could lead to negative consequences."

He went on, "During an emergency, your swift and timely puncture technique eliminated the air embolism in Dr. Luo Yang, particularly within his brain."

"And then there’s your external bypass technique..."

"You’ve proven on more than one occasion that you do, in fact, possess this skill."

Yu Zhiming was speechless.

’The cases Doctor You mentioned aren’t even in the same league as the difficulty of this puncture, are they?’

’In those cases, the situations were urgent, so I didn’t have to worry about brain damage. I just had to puncture directly to the target.’

’But for these two punctures, the tumor is too deep, and they’re demanding minimal brain damage...’

Yu Zhiming looked over at Teacher Qi, only to see him wearing a deadpan expression that screamed, ’What are you going to do about it?’

"Dr. Yu, you can follow these two puncture pathways and reach the tumor without hitting any cerebral blood vessels, correct?"

In response to Doctor You’s question, Yu Zhiming turned his gaze back to the two pathways marked on the scans.

’Damn it, this is absurdly difficult!’

It was like a boss in charge of an area dense with underground pipes, who, with an irresponsible wave of his hand, designated a straight path a hundred meters long but only half a meter wide.

Then that boss pats you on the shoulder and tells you...

"On this hundred-meter-long, half-meter-wide straight path, I need you to lay a rigid steel pipe that can’t be bent, and you have to avoid every single one of the crisscrossing pipes already in the ground."

And then the boss gives you a look of complete trust and says, ’Kid, you can do it. I believe you can do it...’

’Believe my ass!!!’

Feeling like his teacher had set him up, Yu Zhiming thought in silence for a moment before speaking slowly, "I can’t guarantee I can do it, but I can try."

"But I have two conditions..."

"What two conditions?" Doctor You cut in, asking.

Yu Zhiming held up one finger. "First, an absolutely silent operating room."

"The quieter it is, the more accurately and deeply I can probe the cerebral blood vessels, which is the only way to effectively avoid them."

Doctor You said thoughtfully, "Dr. Yu, we’re aware that your auscultation and percussion techniques require the absolute minimum of interference from ambient noise."

"But is there a specific standard for this ’silence’?"

"Without a benchmark, it’s hard for us to make the right arrangements."

This made Yu Zhiming think of Wei Hao from the municipal bureau, and the underground civil defense shelter he had once been taken to.

It was truly silent there—an absolutely perfect place.

"There’s a district public security bureau station in Pujiang North with a sizable underground civil defense shelter."

"The level of silence there would meet my requirements."

At this point, Shen Zhe, who had remained silent since the initial introductions, spoke up. "I’ll handle the communication and coordination for a site visit to the place Dr. Yu mentioned."

Yu Zhiming glanced at the impassive Shen Zhe before holding up a second finger.

"Second, to prevent any noise from interfering with my probing, all monitoring equipment and life-support machines will have to be turned off. The number of medical staff should also be kept to a minimum."

"However, under those conditions, if something goes wrong during the puncture, it might be too late by the time we turn the machines back on to attempt a rescue."

"Can you trust me completely?"

Once again, it was Shen Zhe who spoke.

"Director Qi is a respected medical expert. I have faith in his recommendation and his judgment."

"Dr. Yu, Director Qi recommended you in the strongest possible terms, so I naturally trust you as well. We will do everything according to your requirements."

"If the worst happens, then it’s a matter of fate. No one will be held to blame."

Yu Zhiming looked at the mysterious Mr. Shen and asked doubtfully, "Mr. Shen, are you authorized to make that decision?"

Shen Zhe chuckled. "Dr. Yu, I’m the patient with the brain tumor. Do you think I’m authorized to make decisions for myself?"

Yu Zhiming gave an embarrassed smile. "Of course, you can. You are most certainly authorized to make decisions for yourself, Mr. Shen."

He said no more and stepped back to stand beside Teacher Qi.

After a brief discussion, they decided to first conduct a site visit to the civil defense shelter.

Then, using its level of silence as a benchmark, they would find a suitable operating room at Huashan Hospital and soundproof it accordingly...