Surgery Godfather-Chapter 593 - 540: There Should be Music Here

The task was expected to take three days, but by the second day, Professor He’s team had already completed the digital model of Fang Faquan’s lower limbs.

The computer optimized the force lines, osteotomy lines, and pin distribution points of the left lower limb. The data calculated from the model were edited into a format that could be implanted into the host of a surgical robot.

Professor He tasked a student with delivering this data to Yang Ping via a portable hard drive. Thanks to this hard drive, this complex surgery was about to become foolproof.

With no Tianji surgical robot at the Surgical Research Institute, Yang Ping scheduled Fang Faquan’s surgery at the Surgical Center.

Sanbo Hospital currently has two Tianji surgical robots. One is in the Trauma Orthopedics Department, and the other is shared by other orthopedic departments.

Yang Ping plans to buy one himself, but one machine costs 15 million and requires approval.

Dean Xia already submitted the procurement for approval, and the process was almost complete.

Three Tianji robots in one hospital would classify it as a major customer.

Manager Gu of Tianji’s South China district, upon hearing that Yang Ping would be the chief surgeon for today’s operation, arrived at the operating room early. Tianji and Sanbo Hospital planned to establish a training center and asked Yang Ping to serve as the lead instructor.

It was all because of the previous incidents involving the Da Vinci robot and the painting of Tianji. To this day, the two videos are still circulating on the internet.

Especially your Da Vinci robot, the way it danced truly maxed out the ceiling of robot control abilities.

The four mechanical arms weave around each other in a small glass bottle, but do not touch, creating a sultry dance.

Yang Ping arrived at the Surgical Center early. Many orthopedic doctors, upon hearing that Yang Ping was coming to perform surgery, made every effort to find time to observe.

They were keen to see again the magical operations of the surgical robot in Yang Ping’s hands.

"Hello, Professor Yang!"

"Hello, Professor Yang!"

"Hello, Professor Yang!"

This was the peak period for doctors to enter the operating room. As he passed by, every doctor who saw Yang Ping nodded and greeted him.

They had already seen the notice on the hospital intranet that Yang Ping had been successfully promoted to associate professor.

Such a young newly appointed chief physician, he had been consecutively promoted to deputy director and associate professor.

Even though he was young and inexperienced, he had made impressive progress.

What an accomplished young man!

"Professor Yang!" Director Tan and Manager Gu came out to greet him, flanking Yang Ping on either side.

Although Director Tan Bo Yun was arrogant and had a bad temper, he was a man who respected true abilities.

If you truly had abilities, he would sincerely respect you.

Originally, Director Tan wanted to be an assistant on stage, but he had no place on the operating table as Song Zimo and Xu Zhiliang were preparing to step in.

In the multi-functional operating room of the Trauma Orthopedics Department, the "One-Armed Bandit" Tianji Surgical Robot stood quietly to the side. Its optical tracking system, mechanical arm host, and main control console were all ready.

These three parts represent the robot’s eyes, hands, and brain.

Its eyes can see through, its hands are very steady.

The optical tracking system is like "X-ray eyes," looking deep into muscles and bones, and real-time monitoring of every step of the surgery.

The mechanical arm is the robot’s "steady hand" which is flexible, stable, and has sub-millimeter precision. Its end can connect to various instruments such as drills, saws, screwdrivers, guides, etc. The robot uses these tools to complete the surgery.

The main computer system is equivalent to the robot’s brain, transferring the doctor’s ideas to the above two devices, helping the doctor make precise positioning and path planning.

The surgical robot can also track patient movements during surgery, the mechanical arm automatically compensating for position differences, ensuring the surgical positioning path is consistent with the planned positioning path.

Fatty prepares to anesthetize Fang Faquan. It seemed that he was chatting with Little Five.

"Will this robot go out of control?" Fang Faquan looked at the robot in the operating room with concern.

Upon hearing that Yang Ping was going to use a robot to perform his surgery, he searched online for some information. Seeing cases of robots going out of control, he was a little scared.

"No, it won’t. Rest assured, if it does get out of control, I’ll just unplug it." Little Five pointed to the switch on the wall.

Fang Faquan was still uneasy: "Does the robot have a battery?"

According to his understanding, unplugging wouldn’t be useful if the robot were battery operated.

Little Five reassured him again: "There’s no battery, once you unplug it, it’s out of power."

Seeing Fang Faquan being so chatty, Zhang Lin said, "Fatty, give him the drugs, let him sleep."

Now Fang Faquan was even more scared: "Don’t let me sleep, aren’t they supposed to only give me half the anesthesia? Just numb the lower half of my body?"

"Relax, stop being so tense, this robot has successfully performed hundreds of surgeries." Fatty reassured him.

Fang Faquan didn’t dare sleep. If he fell asleep and the robot went haywire, he wouldn’t even be able to escape.

"I’ll tell you, as soon as you fall asleep, the surgery will be done. You don’t need to be this tense. Besides, the anesthesia I’m giving you usually results in nice dreams, like picking out a wife amongst a group of beautiful women in your dream." Zhang Lin persuaded him, pushing the anesthesia, so he would quit his babbling.

Fang Faquan resisted, "I’m a realistic person, I don’t like daydreaming. Even if you made me emperor in my dream, I wouldn’t be interested."

He kept shivering, and his heart rate on the screen exceeded one hundred beats per minute.

Fatty gave him a sedative, and then his heart rate slowly dropped.

Yang Ping walked over and said to Fang Faquan, "Relax a bit. This robot is called a robot, but it is not a robot. It’s just a remote-controlled surgical machine, completely under my control."

Fang Faquan had always thought this robot had autonomous thinking and would become homicidal just like in the movies if they disagreed with it.

If it was just a remote-control tool, there was nothing to worry about. After all, it was controlled by humans.

"Professor Yang, you mean to say this robot is completely controlled by you?" Fang Faquan asked.

Yang Ping nodded, "That’s right, I control it, and there are people watching it."

All these things had been explained to him before the surgery, but due to his nerves, Fang Faquan had forgotten everything.

Yang Ping didn’t need to scrub in; he sat in front of the console.

Song Zimo and Xu Zhiliang scrubbed in and mounted the drapes; they were the assistants, responsible for assembling the instruments on the table and assisting the robotic arm in the surgery.

Everything was ready; it was time to get started.

"Get the safety sheath, quickly!"

Zhang Lin shouted at the circulating nurse.

"What’s your rush?"

The circulating nurse was not a pushover and directly confronted Zhang Lin.

In essence, the so-called robot was far from a real robot, at most it was a remote-controlled surgical machine using one or several robotic arms to perform the operation in place of a surgeon’s hand.

With the help of X-ray imaging, real-time reconstructed images on the screen showing the tibia, fibula, heel bone, talus, and so on were clearly delineated, and they could even be rotated to achieve the best angle.

The positions where the needles would be inserted were marked with blue dots, and the direction of their insertion was indicated by a blue line.

The robotic arm was holding the drill with the fixation needle. The fixation needle appeared on the screen, the robotic arm automatically aligned with the original point, and then adjusted the direction to overlap with the guiding line. After calibration, it firmly and steadily maintained its position.

The drill rotated at high speed, and the fixation needle entered precisely according to the designated direction. The insertion point, direction, and depth were all accurately carried out according to pre-set data.

Each needle was twisted in using this foolproof method.

The second step was the osteotomy. Song Zimo cut open the skin at the planned osteotomy site and retracted it to reveal the area to be cut.

Xu Zhiliang changed the instrument on the robotic arm to a miniature oscillating saw, and then the saw blade appeared on the screen.

In the images of the lower-left limb skeleton, the position of the osteotomy was marked by a blue line, the location, length, and direction were highly accurate, down to the submillimeter range.

The saw blade located the direction, began automatic calibration. After calibration, the robotic arm locked in and started the osteotomy along the set route.

Similarly, every osteotomy was carried out with remarkable precision.

The robotic arm, under the control of Yang Ping, moved smoothly and rhythmically, like clouds and flowing water.

Director Tan felt that music was needed at this point, so he asked:

"Should we put on some music?"

Song Zimo shared the same thought: "Crank up the music!"

There was a sound system in the corner of the operating room, connected to a computer.

Director Tan began to browse through the music library folder on the computer.

"Door to Door", this was usually played for critically ill patients.

Céline Dion’s "My Heart Will Go On", a staple in cardiac surgery.

The Bee Gees’ "Staying Alive", the trademark music of trauma orthopedics.

Britney Spears’ "Baby One More Time", a song played in obstetrics during labor induction, how did it end up here?

"Please Come Back", a song the emergency department played to celebrate a successful resuscitation.

Director Tan was a man of taste, the background music couldn’t be chosen casually, so which song should be played?

"The patient is very anxious. Coldplay’s ’Fix You’!" Song Zimo was very familiar with the music played in the operating room.

Finally, Director Tan found "Fix You", and the music sounded in the operating room.

"What kind of music does Professor Yang usually prefer when he performs surgeries?" Director Tan thought he should prepare it ahead of time next time.

Song Zimo answered: "’High Mountain and Flowing Water’"

"Should we change it?" Director Tan asked.

Song Zimo told Director Tan: "No need. This song is for the patient, to relieve his tension."

In the end, Song Zimo and Xu Zhiliang completed the installation of the rest of the external fixator, secured clamps, placed the connecting rods, and tightened the nuts.

A complex and complete orthopedic external fixator was installed.

In fact, the Tianji robot only performed key steps, and many steps still require manual operation.

Therefore, there is still significant room for improvement.

The entire surgery, completed within ten minutes, resulted in less than 5 milliliters of blood loss. The precise pinning and osteotomy kept the joint capsule and other stabilizing structures intact.

These intact structures will undergo correction along with the bones according to the Ilizarov principle.

Director Tan watched the whole surgery and had to admit that even after performing hundreds of surgeries, he was not as skilled as Yang Ping, the gap was quite large.

The difference between an experienced driver and a professional race car driver.

Watching Yang Ping perform surgery was enjoyable. Under his control, the robotic arm truly followed his will and became an actual extension of a surgeon’s hand.

No wonder he could control the Tianji robotic arm to draw a human anatomical figure.

He could also control the four robotic arms of Da Vinci to complete that hot dance in a small glass bottle.

The music was still playing, and Yang Ping went to Fang Faquan’s head.

"The surgery is complete!"

"Was it successful?"

Fang Faquan anxiously asked. It seemed like the surgery had just started and yet it was already over? He didn’t feel anything.

"Extremely successful!"

Director Tan chimed in.

The music continued to play, and Fang Faquan felt extremely comfortable. In his mind, he was walking with healthy legs, accompanied by his beautiful wife, returning to his small village.

He couldn’t help but feel self-important!