"Stuck in the esophagus...?"
Elder Gushan hesitantly touched his own neck. When he tried to reach for the humpback’s neck, Garrett quickly stopped him:
"Don’t touch it. It’s stuck right here in the chest, about level with the second rib, deep down. You won’t be able to feel it. Try using a [Detection Magic]—"
He knelt on one knee, pointing out the spot to Elder Gushan. At the same time, he frowned, deep in thought:
How to perform the examination?
How to ensure the surgery is safe?
Removing an esophageal foreign body, especially one lodged in the chest section of the esophagus, isn’t difficult. Even though Garrett wasn’t an ENT doctor, he had a rough idea of the procedure:
If there’s no perforation, an esophagoscope—version courtesy of the Divine Nature Sect’s vines—could easily remove it:
Even if the esophageal foreign body punctured the esophagus, a thoracoscopy could be performed by making an incision in the chest, in conjunction with a gastroscope, to remove the object;
All of these were feasible. But everything hinged on one thing:
For simple and smooth foreign bodies like coins, an X-ray would suffice for diagnosis. However, for complex, irregular, and sharp objects, especially those with a risk of perforation, it’s widely known that the most reliable diagnostic method is:
Only a CT scan could clearly show the size, shape, and position of the esophageal foreign body, whether it has pierced surrounding tissues like the trachea or aorta, and whether there are any complications like perforations, inflammation, or abscesses.
In this respect, X-rays only show flat images, and barium meals could worsen injuries by clinging to the foreign object (Garrett didn’t even have barium), and ultrasound was simply inadequate. No other diagnostic method comes close to its effectiveness.
But where could he find a CT machine?!
Garrett pondered hard. Glancing sideways, Elder Gushan had already stood up, his face pale:
"How did it get stuck there? Can it be removed? Or... could he swallow it down?"
"You can’t swallow it!" Garrett exclaimed, alarmed. Definitely not give a rice ball or anything else to the patient to chew and try to swallow the foreign object along!
"It’s stuck in a particularly dangerous position! Right next to the largest blood vessel in the human body, leading directly to the heart! A slight move, letting the handle of the spoon pierce through the esophagus and into the blood vessel, and the person would be done for!"
"What should we do?" Elder Gushan’s forehead broke out in cold sweat. If he were alone in this situation, it would be left to fate. Fortunately, Garrett was here—
"Sir, you must save him! Redstone Village only has the humpback healer; if he dies, with his apprentice still young, the village will be in trouble! Living in the wilderness without a healer, how can we cope with illnesses and injuries?"
"Don’t worry, I’ll do my best," Garrett reassured him repeatedly. Then turning his head:
"Keep an eye on the patient. If his condition suddenly worsens, cast a healing spell." He pointed to the center of the humpback’s sternum, level with the second rib:
"Don’t be stingy, use a big one. I need to think."
"Okay!" The silver dragon girl responded, squatting down, then glared at the white wolf across from her:
【White Wolf】Wolfgang snorted coldly. He wanted to raise his fist to show off, but hesitated:
After all, she was an elven girl. Even with her incredible strength capable of flinging him aside, she was still a delicate elf girl. Showing off brute force seemed like bullying...
Hesitating for a moment, someone came running over with a thud, shaking the ground. Bernard, after settling the carriage, ran over to stand beside Garrett, taking the silver dragon girl’s place. He puffed up his chest towards the other side:
The boss says to clear the area, then no one should disturb his treatment!
In the tense silence, Garrett quickly thought. He couldn’t perform a full chest CT, the computational requirements were too vast, beyond his capabilities; but what about just one layer?
The principle of a CT scan is to divide a slice into 64 squares or more. Then,
based on the body’s different parts and their ability to absorb X-rays, they are categorized into high absorption, medium absorption, and low absorption areas.
Then, rotate a radiation source around the patient. By synthesizing the received information, all the points are combined into a flat image...
I don’t need many images, just two, three, or at most four, no larger than 10×10 cm. For the patient’s life, could I manually record and calculate, attempting it just once?
To walk the path the pioneers walked... After all, the earliest CT images were created just ...
He bit his lip, determined. The situation wasn’t severe; it was worth a try. Even if the diagnosis was incorrect, he was confident of saving the patient. Even if he made a mistake, with Seraina by his side, someone could cast a powerful healing spell...
"Seraina, keep an eye on him." Garrett whispered, while rustling about, starting to take out a pen and notebook:
"I want to try a new diagnostic method. If successful, it should save many more lives."
A new diagnostic method?
The silver dragon girl’s eyes lit up. She nodded vigorously, squatting down, watching the humpback savage unblinkingly. Soon, 【Humpback】Whitfen moved slightly, letting out a pained groan:
"Don’t move! Please don’t move!" Garrett immediately rushed over, anxious. An esophageal foreign body near the aortic arch requires absolute bed rest in clinical situations, to avoid any forceful movement causing the foreign object to directly pierce the aorta. But now, he had to adapt:
"Bernard! Bring a chair over! One with a backrest!"
"Coming!" Before Bernard could search everywhere, Elder Gushan commanded, and soon a young man brought over a wooden stool, tying a wooden board to the legs. They even carefully adjusted the height of the board according to Garrett’s request, not to hinder the swelling on the old man’s back:
"Lift him up! Move as gently as possible, don’t let him exert himself, not even a little! Place him on the chair, let him sit upright! Once seated, back straight, good! Seraina, cast a binding spell!"
Although spiral CTs are performed lying down, Garrett figured that the 【Endless Ink Pen】could rotate around the old man, but he couldn’t lie down and rotate with him. As for lying underneath the patient, controlling the patient to rotate with magic...
Imagining it, it really wasn’t a pretty picture. Forget it, let’s follow the practice of the first-generation CT experiments and have the patient sit upright!
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