Chapter 841: [841] Close the chamber, please Chapter 841: [841] Close the chamber, please The surgery had begun.
Dai Ronghong walked out, waiting outside with the family members. Mainly because she was also scared, scared of a bad outcome from the surgery.
Before the surgery, the doctor had a conversation with the family. Tao Zhijie made it very clear to the family that whether the surgery could be performed would depend on the findings from the surgical exploration. Very few pancreatic cancer patients eventually get to have surgery, especially those as young as her who are prone to metastasis, even if the tumor is not large.
Medical judgment based on experience and science is quite reliable.
After the laparoscope was inserted, it wasn’t long before obvious signs of peritoneal metastasis were found. On the peritoneum behind the patient’s pancreas, white nodules marked the spread of cancer cells.
In such cases, it’s a hundred percent cancer.
A layer of gravity coated the brows and eyes of the doctors at the operating table.
Song Xueling, as the chief surgeon, was personally operating the laparoscope to perform the exploratory surgery. Xie Wanying stood opposite him, the first assistant for today’s operation, holding separation clamps and other instruments, ready to step forward and assist at any moment.
They needed to perform a complete and thorough examination to arrive at the most accurate judgment.
Standing behind the two of them was He Jiuliang, temporarily taking over the supervisory duties from Tao Zhijie. Observing the surgical scene on the monitor, he said to the two newcomers, “If the search looks thorough, close the cavity.”
This sentence from the senior, like a downpour falling from the sky, would probably have made the patient or the patient’s family burst into tears if they were awake and present.
To close the cavity meant that the surgery could no longer be performed.
Everyone knew that tumor surgery was the first choice for life-saving and life-extending measures. For cancers that could not be operated on, the patient’s life expectancy was definitely not long.
The judgment made by He Jiuliang carried weight in this operation. Xie Wanying and Song Xueling, though new to the Hepatobiliary Surgery Department, had been working with Tao Zhijie’s team and the seniors for some time and had a general understanding of the seniors’ technical skill levels. Pancreatic surgeries within the team were basically led by Doctor He, so Doctor He had a say in pancreatic surgeries.
To give up? The laparoscope inside the patient’s abdominal cavity did not stop its search for cancer cells.
Newcomers fresh to the clinical scene are all full of passion, deeming themselves invincible, especially when the newcomers of the day are both talented young scholars, possessing their own pride. He Jiuliang, chafing his lips, earnestly tried to comfort the two newcomers, “If it has metastasized, there’s no use operating. It won’t just fail to extend the patient’s lifespan, it might further spread the cancer cells. Just prepare the chemotherapy plan honestly. Teacher Tao must have discussed it with you.”
“We had a meeting with Senior Tao. But the exploratory results now are within Doctor Song’s expectations, and there might be a chance for surgery,” said Xie Wanying, assisting in place of the chief surgeon, because she knew that Doctor Song was busy calculating and deducing in his mind and didn’t have the time to consider others’ words. It wasn’t that they weren’t listening to advice, but they wanted to form their own judgments before considering others’ opinions.
“Did Teacher Tao say her condition could allow for the surgery?” He Jiuliang doubted they had misunderstood Tao Zhijie’s intention; with such clear peritoneal metastasis, the surgery couldn’t be performed no matter how small the tumor was. Unless there was a doctor who could manage to completely excise the metastatic peritoneum, such an operation would be too difficult.
“Yes. Doctor Song has drawn up relevant surgical plans, and he believes it’s worth a try. Of course, next we need to check the cancer cell spread in the blood vessels,” Xie Wanying said.
Blood vessel metastasis is even more lethal.
“Let me tell you first,” He Jiuliang shared with the newcomers based on his experience, “with this condition, even if you excise it, the margins you keep are very likely to continue to be positive. Don’t believe me? Wait and see when you do the pathology. The tendency for pancreatic metastasis will exceed all of your imaginations.”