The Surgeon's Studio

The CT room was packed every day as Sea City General Hospital only owned one 64-slice CT scanner. Zheng Ren could not disrupt other patients’ scans scheduled during working hours, so he only had the afternoon break to use the machine.

His morning was fairly uneventful, which was the usual routine in the emergency department.

Traffic normally climbed in the evening and gradually slowed down between 3 to 4 a.m.

Sometime after nine, Zheng Ren noticed more people outside than usual from the noise.

It was normally very quiet in this hour, when patients were all on a drip and there was no major rescue to attend to.

“Chang Yue, what’s happening outside?” he asked.

“3-8’s family is here to visit,” Chang Yue replied indifferently.

Having just had a night shift, she was supposed to be off-duty but had yet to finish paperwork for the emergency rescue yesterday

With things as they were, it was unclear if she would be able to go home before noon.

The patient in ward 3-8 was Old Chief Physician Pan’s referral with liver carcinoma, who had just returned from his checkup.

Since he had only recently been admitted to the hospital, there were many people coming to visit him.

Today had more well-wishers than usual.

Zheng Ren looked out, saw the ward as busy as a fair, and shook his head.

“Chief Zheng, you might not be able to perform this surgery,” Chang Yue said, suddenly turning around.

“Why?” Zheng Ren was a little confused.

“Because of the family’s attitude, but it’s just my personal opinion. I wouldn’t count on it.”

Zheng Ren hummed softly as he recalled the patient’s family members.

The patient was in his sixties, skinny, and had a dark complexion like the majority of liver disease patients.

He had two children, one male and one female.

Zheng Ren’s inability to recognize faces made him give up trying to remember anything else. Memorising their gender was already hard enough.

Had there been any subtle differences he had missed? Zheng Ren thought about it for a moment before halting his search for truth.

If they wanted it, they could have the surgery, and if they did not, they would not have to.

As doctors, only certain emergency cases would require them to rush to treat patients, unless they were from Putian hospitals or Quanjian (Tianjin) Tumor Hospital.

He was somewhat rushed for time with two 3D reconstructions in the afternoon.

From his schedule, Zheng Ren concluded that he would not be able to make it for lunch.

At 10.45 a.m., Zheng Ren and Professor Rudolf Wagner went to the CT room to wait so that they could start right after the technicians left for their break.

The professor was unsure why Zheng Ren had wanted to personally come down to the CT room. In his opinion, a general surgeon required already excellent skill to even understand a CT scan.

After greeting the deputy senior consultant of the CT room, Sister Zhao, Zheng Ren began operating the machine as the other staff departed for lunch.

The professor personally disagreed with Zheng Ren’s habit of skipping lunch, but had likely been brainwashed by Chang Yue into thinking that it was the Chinese spirit and the reason Zheng Ren refused to follow him to Heidelberg University.

Therefore, despite being famished and irritable, he remained silent and sat behind Zheng Ren, observing the man closely.

Ever since Zheng Ren’s first 3D-reconstructed 64-slice CT scan on Zheng Yunxia, he had gained a good grasp of the technique.

His skill had especially improved after the reconstruction of a prostate capillary network.

This scan of a liver was much easier in comparison to all that he had done before.

Watching Zheng Ren operate the scanner and perform the reconstruction, Professor Rudolf’s initial dissatisfaction and confusion turned into a growing realization.

It was the same thing done during the prostate interventional surgery!

Zheng Ren’s proficiency and intricacy during the surgery in Imperial Capital aside, the professor could not comprehend how the man had managed to map out so many capillary networks.

Watching Zheng Ren perform 3D reconstruction of a 64-slice CT scan in person finally answered the burning question.

This was how he had done it!

Since Professor Rudolf Wagner had a background in medical imaging science and interventional surgery, he understood how the reconstruction worked.

He was a world-class physician inside and out.

After a little over ten minutes, he already had several questions in mind.

Zheng Ren had no intention of withholding any information and answered all the professor’s queries unreservedly.

Half an hour later, the professor could discuss operational details with Zheng Ren and had his own opinions on the retrograde reconstruction of the tumor blood supply vessels.

Both of them differed in opinion and method as they had had very different upbringings.

Zheng Ren had been groomed by the System while the professor had the experience of thousands of cases.

The latter had a richer well of direct involvement to draw from while the former was stronger in terms of thought process and integration capability.

They listened to each other and occasionally had a heated debate during their discussion. Zheng Ren gained a lot from their conversation.

One and a half hours later, 3D reconstruction of 64-slice CT scans for both patients was complete.

Zheng Ren already had the initial framework for the surgeries tomorrow in his mind.

The insertion point, the choice of artery for embolization, routes to enter to prevent embolization of normal arteries; he had it all planned out.

It was an amazing feeling.

Suddenly, Zheng Ren thought of the nodular hepatocellular carcinoma surgery he had performed in Imperial Capital. This time around, he ought to be able to finish it more quickly.

He could complete ten of these surgeries in a day.

The professor had completely forgotten about missing lunch and working overtime. On his way back, he continued to discuss details of the scan and reconstruction with Zheng Ren.

This was the first time Zheng Ren had shared his thoughts with a world-renowned professor from an academic standpoint. The professor had many ideas worth considering and his input could only help Zheng Ren further refine his skill.

They headed back to the ward, but before they could enter, Zheng Ren heard a commotion down the corridor.

Was it a medical dispute?

Zheng Ren’s heart fell.

Doctors would rather face major emergency rescues than medical disputes.

Some people dared to take off all their clothes and sit naked in the corridor as they wailed to imply that doctors had done something abominable.

However, it was strange how doctors with questionable ethics seldom got into trouble. More often, it was the well-mannered and skilled who got embroiled in controversy.

Going after a soft target was easier, after all.

Zheng Ren’s hands were tied.

Perhaps it was true that “bad money drives out good”, according to Gresham’s law. After enough time, perpetrators would be left with mediocre doctors that could end up misdiagnosing them. What would happen then?

Despite his anxiety, he still had to handle the situation.

He entered the emergency ward and saw a middle-aged man swearing in the corridor.

Beside him was a woman trying to calm him down.

Zheng Ren could not recognize him from appearance, but remembered them as family members of the patient in ward 3-8, who had just gotten a 64-slice CT scan with 3D image reconstruction.

What was happening?

The man was not berating doctors and nurses, but rather going on about how the hospital was not providing the necessary medical care, including something about no IV drip being provided even two to three days post-admission.

Zheng Ren was puzzled, but ignored the man and went into his office.

Chang Yue was typing furiously on her computer.