Famous Among Top Surgeons in the 90s-Chapter 1933: Retractor
The Chief Surgeon’s unusual behavior startled the nurse into hesitating, unsure of what major event had occurred. She hurriedly delivered the prepared scalpel from the instrument table to the Chief Surgeon.
Slam, the handle was placed into the Chief Surgeon’s palm.
Behind the magnifying glasses, Chang Jiawei’s eyes narrowed slightly, his gaze locked onto the surgical incision site. The sharp knife in his hand slowly sliced open the skin. The incision was para-vertebral and longitudinal, its length needed to reach about two vertebrae, with the potential for extension depending on intraoperative conditions.
When not speaking, the senior seemed to transform into a surgical machine like other teachers, making precise incisions with each stroke. Xie Wanying watched the Chief Surgeon’s movements, assisting him with Doctor Liu to offer support at any moment.
As with other surgeries, after the Chief Surgeon cut the skin, the First Assistant immediately pressed gauze on the incision to stop the bleeding.
At this point, the Chief Surgeon replaced the scalpel with the Electrosurgical Unit, cutting through the subcutaneous tissue and cauterizing to stop bleeding.
The operating room echoed again with the very familiar buzzing sounds, and the creaking sounds of activating the circuit breaker.
The doctors’ focus was entirely on dissecting layer by layer.
Beneath the subcutaneous tissue lay the human back muscles, including the trapezius, latissimus dorsi, and rhomboids. These layers of muscle groups were sequentially and methodically cut. Once the muscles were cut, the retractor was elevated to expose the surgical field.
Without a Third Assistant, the Second Assistant stepped in. Xie Wanying carefully held the retractors in both hands, gently placing them on either side of the wound to spread open the muscles.
Today’s surgical situation was different from the abdominal surgeries she had become quite familiar with. Unlike the abdomen, which resembles a large sack with a deep cavity containing diverse contents, the back surgery didn’t have such depth and wide space. When the retractors were applied, a real tension could be felt, and soon the bone area would be reached.
Once the surgery started, everyone was busy with their tasks, and no one cared that she was a girl. Yes, even the Senior Chang, who was known for being gentle to girls, didn’t bother whether her arms were sore.
This indicates that as long as one is a Boss, no matter how well they treat you ordinarily, on the operating table, they all become uniform: no pleasantries.
The teachers only focused on the surgical area in front of them. If they found her retraction unsatisfactory, they would immediately reprimand and correct her without mercy.
The surgery hadn’t been going on for long when everyone noticed that Student Xie hadn’t been scolded, as usual.
Zhang Tinghai’s lips twitched downward: This is indeed the Student Xie. Student Xie returned, the same as always, so there’s never any dullness in Student Xie’s operating room.
In his heart, Doctor Liu sighed twice, glancing at her: Unexpected, not only is this Student Xie’s academic explanation quite fluent, but her strength in surgery is indeed strong, and there’s not a drop of sweat on her forehead. He thought to himself, she’s truly fitting for orthopedics.
Strong as it may be, it must be acknowledged that the back muscles are not easy to retract, offering little relaxation for manual rest, and causing rapid fatigue in the person holding the retractors per second.
The silent Chang Jiawei finally spoke again, saying, "Hold on."
Don’t think Senior Chang was particularly caring towards her as a girl; he didn’t even raise his head, long forgetting who was holding the retractor here. It was purely a good person noticing his subordinate getting tired from retracting.
As the surgery reached a certain stage, the Chief Surgeon determined that the surgical field in front of him had reached a sufficient area. Chang Jiawei spoke again, issuing a command: "Switch to the fixed retractor."
Once the words fell, Doctor Liu asked the nurse for the fixed retractor. The fixed retractor, academically known as the self-retaining retractor. An ordinary retractor relies on manual retraction which is very tiring, so it’s best for the retractor to hold itself in place without needing someone to hold it. Such a retractor is called a fixed retractor.
