Surgery Godfather-Chapter 571 - 519: Creativity

Yang Ping used the tip of the scalpel to cut open the pericardium.

The scalpel tip, seemingly blind to the adhesions, threaded like it had eyes, always maneuvering safely in the gaps.

These so-called safe gaps, due to the presence of adhesions, are indistinguishable to the naked eye.

So, Li Zehui was puzzled about how Yang Ping could anticipate where the actual safe gaps were.

"Focus!"

Yang Ping noticed Li Zehui’s hands pause momentarily, knew he was distracted, and immediately reminded him seriously.

Any negligence in such surgery could lead to serious errors.

Yang Ping’s voice was a bit loud, and Li Zehui’s face turned red. He didn’t have time to think about these questions, as Yang Ping’s scalpel was moving rapidly. He immediately focused his attention to assist Yang Ping.

This dextrocardia, the reversed dextrocardia, was slowly revealed under the scalpel. Following that, the aorta, pulmonary artery, superior vena cava, and pulmonary veins were swiftly differentiated and clearly displayed before their eyes.

Li Zehui had thought that revealing the heart from the adhesions would take a long time, at least two to three hours.

However, Yang Ping accomplished it in just over a dozen minutes.

This was the dextrocardia covered with adhesions and not only that, but it was also reversed.

Any doctor would be cautious in dissecting this kind of malformation, like crossing a river by feeling the stones.

---

Inside the Heart Center meeting room, the doctors observing the surgery, at the moment when the chest cavity was opened, all believed that it would be impossible to separate and reveal the heart and large blood vessels in less than three hours.

Dodge thought so too.

Yet, the daring speed of Yang Ping’s scalpel exceeded their imaginations. They once thought that during the separation process, blood vessels or nerves would surely be damaged. However, when the entire heart and large blood vessels clearly appeared, there wasn’t any unexpected bleeding observed during the surgery.

In just over a dozen minutes, Yang Ping completed the reveal.

What should have been fraught with danger was carried out smoothly and calmly in Yang Ping’s hands.

"Bro, can this Chinese doctor really perform heart surgeries?"

Experts watch the technique while amateurs watch the excitement.

Odd O’Relli only saw the reveal, and he was already feeling inferior.

"Yeah, he just knows how to do it, that’s all."

Actually, Dodge’s thoughts mirrored Odd O’Relli’s. He was following the rhythm of the surgery, wondering at each step what he would have done. But before he could figure anything out, the scalpel in the video had dived deeper.

Even on this step alone, Dodge had to admit, he was not as skilled.

No wonder Li Zehui was so insistent on having Yang Ping as the chief surgeon.

Dodge’s mind seemed to clear a bit now.

But he still did not want to admit defeat, comforting himself that the surgery had just begun, and this didn’t reflect one’s skill level.

An arrogant person will always find various reasons to convince themselves.

---

"I want to get a good look at this heart."

Marshall was ecstatic.

This was a heart that was reversed both left to right and front to back. It was now lying on the right side of the chest cavity, warm and pulsating.

Yang Ping paused his operation, letting him get a good look.

As a doctor, Marshall might only encounter a case like this once in his lifetime.

"May I touch it?"

Marshall asked cautiously.

Yang Ping pointed to the heart and said, "Go ahead! Just be gentle, don’t squeeze it like a rubber ball."

With the permission granted, Marshall, trembling with excitement, reached out with his sterile-gloved fingers, lightly prodded the pulsating heart, and then gently held it with his palm.

The surface that should have been at the back was now visible. The distribution of the blood vessels was also reversed front to back.

Gently squeezing it, he could feel the thing under his hand, like a rubber ball - the tumor.

A severe Tetralogy of Fallot - aortic overriding, ventricular septal defect, stenosis of the pulmonary artery, and right ventricular hypertrophy, all were concentrated in this diseased heart.

"Marshall, have you had enough?" Li Zehui urged, as he also wanted to touch the heart.

"Hold on a second!"

Marshall showed no intention of stopping immediately.

Yang Ping simply stopped for a while to let them have the full experience, after all, the heart had not yet been removed, so there was no rush.

About five minutes later.

Li Zehui’s hand emerged from the chest cavity: "We can continue."

Now, Yang Ping will start cutting off the large blood vessels connecting to the heart and then take out the heart intact.

Yang Ping ordered the connection to the artificial heart-lung machine, emptied the heart of blood, and injected arresting solution into the heart from the coronary artery. Soon, under the induction of the arresting solution, the heart stopped beating.

"Anesthesiologist! Perfusionist! I am going to remove this heart now."

After alerting the anesthesiologist and the perfusionist, Yang Ping cut off the aorta above the origin of the coronary artery, then without hesitation, cut off the superior vena cava, pulmonary artery, and pulmonary vein.

The heart was detached from the infant’s circulatory pipeline, becoming an independent unit.

At this time, Yang Ping carefully took out the heart, holding it in his palm.

The scrub nurse handed over a metal tray already filled with sterile ice.

Yang Ping placed the heart in the metal tray and then personally brought the tray to the prepared sterile workstation.

He was going to perform a series of operations at this workstation, targeting this excised heart.

Li Zehui moved to the workstation to assist Yang Ping.

Marshall stayed behind to guard the empty chest cavity. With the heart removed, the space left behind seemed vast and empty.

The feeling was strange, as if a person had been hollowed out.

The artificial heart and lung machine simulated the function of the heart and lungs, pumping blood to circulate throughout the body, maintaining the life of the infant.

The first task was to remove the tumor from the left ventricle. Although the tumor was in the left ventricle, it could not be revealed by directly cutting the myocardium of the left ventricle.

The function of the left ventricle is to pump blood. During blood pumping, the myocardium contracts strongly. If the ventricle is cut open and the incision is closed with sutures, it cannot fully adapt to the powerful contraction, and there is a risk of the incision rupturing during pumping.

And the scars on the ventricles could reduce the heart’s tolerance in the future. It’s entirely possible that during some intense exercise, the heart might rupture at the scar due to rapid and vigorous contraction.

So, the best way to remove such a tumor is to make an incision on the atrium, while the real masters will try to remove the tumor through the gap in the aorta.

This preserves the integrity of the left ventricular myocardium, allowing the heart to function better and more resiliently.

"Wrist and finger joint arthroscope! Pediatric otolaryngology endoscope! Pediatric thoracoscope and laparoscope!"

A series of instruments were unwrapped from their sterile packaging, each set of instruments occupied a sterile table, and various equipment was placed around the operating table.

If it weren’t for Yang Ping’s in-depth communication with the entire team in advance, they wouldn’t have known what all these assorted instruments were for.

In fact, Yang Ping wouldn’t use many of these instruments.

But he needed to make do with these instrument sets. Each set might have one or two pieces he needed, only by combining them could he get all the equipment he needed.

---

What is he going to do?

Dodge couldn’t figure out Yang Ping’s next move. He was asking the circulating nurse to prepare so many endoscopic systems. Was he planning to use these scopes to look at the tumor inside to plan for the surgical incision?

What an innovative guy!

Yang Ping picked an appropriate lens and inserted it into the severed aorta. The aorta was connected to the left ventricle from which he could observe the tumor.

"Fix the heart!"

Yang Ping needed someone to hold the heart steady. Li Zehui used both hands to fix the heart in place. Yang Ping held the endoscope in one hand and the instrument in the other, and began to excise the tumor.

"Is he really performing endoscopic surgery on an excised heart? Is he going to deal with the tumor and malformation through endoscopy without cutting open the heart?"

Dodge’s guess was correct.

Yang Ping’s madness went well beyond simply performing such complex surgery on an excised heart.

He intended to use minimally invasive surgery to remove the tumor.

Impossible!

Dodge denied his own judgment.

No one could do it!