Chapter 454: Chapter 415: One Arrow, Three Birds Chapter 454: Chapter 415: One Arrow, Three Birds Massimo almost spewed blood. John Ansen’s words were akin to pressing his head against the ground.
Yang Ping was waiting for his next opportunity. It wasn’t in his nature to perform the surgery rashly amidst the risk of unstable voltage. A successful surgery should be stable. Starting with a gambler’s luck means failing from the beginning.
Sometimes there was no choice, and risks had to be taken. However, when he has a choice, he was not willing to add unnecessary risk without reason.
When he simulated the surgical procedure using Steven’s case, he gained a deep understanding of Steven’s condition. He realized that Steven could hold on for more than five hours.
If the engineers could repair the power system, he would just need half an hour to complete the surgery.
This kind of surgery must be performed under the best conditions. He wouldn’t make a move if not prepared, but once he does, it would be a lethal blow.
If it came to the last moment and the power system was still not repaired, Yang Ping would be forced to gamble. However, if there was the slightest hope, Yang Ping did not want to gamble.
Sometimes, life and death hung in the balance. Although he couldn’t guarantee that nothing would go wrong, Yang Ping would strive for the highest probability for his patients.
The technical support for Steven’s condition did not stop. His data got sent to the artificial intelligence doctors at GG Company and also IBM’s AI doctor Watson.
The Artificial Intelligence at GG company conducted a simulated progression of Steven’s condition. After multiple simulations, the final result was revealed.
Steven could only hold on for seven hours, after which he would die due to ruptured aneurysms.
“Why doesn’t he take action? Only seven hours left. If he doesn’t take action now, there will be no time left later.” Massimo didn’t understand why Yang Ping was waiting. Even though the voltage was unstable, the robot could still be operated. It was a risky business from the get-go.
This surgery would take between five to six hours. If they waited for the spare parts to arrive, David Hollis to exit the cabin, and carry out the repairs, there wouldn’t be any time left for the surgery.
“Dr. Yang has his own plans. During one surgery, the patient’s heartbeat stopped four times, and it was only on the 21st defibrillation that the heartbeat started again. But he was still calm and composed. We shouldn’t try to understand him from our perspective. Massimo, you’re a genius, I admit, but both you and I are on the same dimension. Dr. Yang is on a higher level because he is younger, so you haven’t fully comprehended his achievements. Believe in him, trust him more than you trust yourself.” John Mason tried to pacify Massimo.
Yang Ping stayed in the operating room. He couldn’t leave, nor did he dare to. If Steven was in danger, he needed to instruct Susan on emergency procedures, or could even use the remote surgical robot for some operations.
IBM’s Watson sent over the diagnosis report for Steven: “Steven’s brainstem has more than one aneurysm. There’s another concealed microaneurysm.”
Compared to GG company’s artificial intelligence, IBM’s Watson was much more robust and mature in the medical field.
Especially in the area of AI diagnosis, it simply crushed GG company’s AI. Of course, it could even crush human doctors. No matter how skilled a doctor is, they can only diagnose a few hundred images a day. But Watson could analyze hundreds of thousands of images in a few seconds.
In the images, some minute details could be enlarged and distinguished in the computer host, then precise measurements and big data calculations could be performed.
Steven had two aneurysms! Plus another concealed one.
This was drastically different from the original diagnosis. At this time, no one would question Watson’s diagnosis.
Upon receiving the news, John Ansen couldn’t sit still. He had to tell Doctor Yang immediately. If they only operated on one aneurysm, it would be like disarming one of the two time bombs, which is still ineffective.
The command center on the ground, the doctors whose nerves had just relaxed, became tense again. Two aneurysms doubled the difficulty of the surgery.
The last bit of self-confidence in Massimo’s heart shattered. If there was only one aneurysm, he could give it a try and bet on the inconsiderable few percent chance of success. But with two aneurysms in the brainstem, even dreaming of taking such a gamble was not an option.
The medical team started to get restless. John Ansen hurried to Yang Ping’s operating room, with Massimo close behind.
Yang Ping was sipping tea with Old Cheng and President Huang. Seeing the tense John Ansen, he asked, “Has the power system been fixed?”
John Ansen shook his head, his face pale, “Dr. Yang, IBM’s Watson just diagnosed: Steven has got two microaneurysms on his brain stem, both located on the complex vasculature. Another one is concealed, straddling the intersecting part of the blood vessels.”
Yang Ping apparently wasn’t anxious: “Sit down, let me explain slowly.”
“Old Cheng, bring that diagram over.” Yang Ping called to Old Cheng.
Boss Cheng immediately brought over a pencil drawing made by Yang Ping. Yang Ping pointed at the drawing and said, “See, actually there are not just two, but three. Two others are very concealed and have not shown up yet. In a microgravity environment, venous return slows down, arterial congestion happens, and the first one is easier to present the symptoms. The other two—one is very concealed and the third one hasn’t shown up at all, and it’s unclear whether these are Steven’s inherent vascular defects, or vascular changes caused by the microgravity environment.”
“You — knew all along?” John Ansen was perplexed.
Yang Ping nodded, “Because neither the joint viewing session nor the AI diagnostic system of GG company detected it. If I had brought it up, I wouldn’t have been able to convince anyone, and it would have wasted a lot of time. Since surgery has to be performed anyway, there’s no difference for me whether I am dealing with one problem or three during the operation.”
“But— Watson only diagnosed two arterial aneurysms?” Massimo was lost in confusion and disbelief.
Yang Ping had no choice but to explain, “The ability of an artificial intelligence robot like Watson relies on feeding it all the existing medical knowledge of humanity, all articles, books, imaging pictures, etc. If something has never occurred in previous knowledge, it can’t access it. Therefore, in terms of exploring the unknown, it cannot outperform us. It can only detect two based on image disparities, whereas we can deduce the existence of the third one from the mechanisms of the disease. Similar to how the Frenchman Levil and the Briton John Adams derived the existence and trajectory of Neptune based on the anomalous trajectory of Uranus.”
“So you’re saying, this aneurysm doesn’t show up on any imaging studies, you deduced it?” John Ansen finally understood a bit.
“How can you just put an additional spring coil in his skull based on conjecture?” Massimo asked.
Yang Ping spoke calmly, but left no room for argument, “Why not? If we wait until it shows up on imaging, it would be too late. We need to predict its existence ahead of time and deal with it in advance. Just like how we need to predict the likelihood of stomach cancer if Helicobacter pylori is found in excessive amounts in the stomach. We can’t wait until stomach cancer develops, we have to resolve the issue of Helicobacter pylori beforehand.”
“Further, its blood flow dynamics have already shown abnormalities; it’s just that no one has observed it from a dynamic perspective. Watson naturally wouldn’t be able to, but I can. Isn’t all medical diagnosis based on the deduction of evidence? Isn’t the diagnosis of an aneurysm based on its presentation in imaging studies? It’s just that the evidence I based my deduction on is unfamiliar to everyone else. I didn’t deduce from static images but from dynamic changes. This is a highly advanced diagnostic skill. Every minute, the angiographic image of the whole brain changes. You not only have to observe the static differences, but also see the continuity of change between them, the internal driving logic, and the basic principles governed by the laws of physics. Physics is their underlying logic. Do you understand?”
“I see!” John Ansen didn’t want to waste any more of Yang Ping’s time, he knew it was impossible to understand a high-dimensional creature like him so easily. He could ask for clarification later. Didn’t they have an online forum? He could ask Yang Ping to post explanations there in the future.
Massimo didn’t understand, “You understood?”
“Alright, there’s no way we can understand it right now. Now is not the time for academic discussion, just accept this diagnosis obediently.” John Ansen whispered in Massimo’s ear.
But Watson only saw two? Where’s the other one?
If there truly were three, the surgery would be impossible to perform.
“Didn’t you hear him say, one, two, three, to him, there’s no difference.” John Ansen didn’t think too much about it. Apparently, Dr. Yang knew all along.
“But three microarterial aneurysms, each surgery is going to take several hours, right? And they need to use the remote surgery system. Right now, he’s not showing any intention of getting started, still drinking that damned stuff.” Back in the hall, Massimo chattered.
John Ansen comforted Massimo, “Don’t be so anxious, he must have arranged everything.”
But how could he not be anxious, Massimo felt like he was sitting on pins and needles, glancing from time to time at the activity in the “Safe House”.
If they had to wait until the power system was repaired, the time left for surgery wouldn’t exceed one hour. What terrified him was, what if, what if the blood vessel suddenly ruptured during this time?
For complex procedures that require addressing multiple issues, how could one hour be enough? No matter how you looked at it, it wouldn’t be enough. Was Dr. Yang some sort of demigod? Did he plan to finish the surgery within one hour?
One hour? It was something he didn’t even dare to think about.
Massimo shivered, almost as if he had just relieved himself in winter.
The Union Rocket was launched from Baikonur, Kazakhstan. Approximately three hours and forty minutes later, the spaceship would dock with the International Space Station.
David Hollis prepared to leave the cabin for a spacewalk to repair the MDM. If he couldn’t fix it, he would have to replace it. He calculated the timing of his exit. If it was determined to be unrepairable, the delivery spaceship would arrive just in time for docking.
His Russian colleagues, clad in their ‘Sea Eagle’ spacesuits, would exit from another hatch to bring over the spare parts. Together, they would complete the replacement procedure.
This was such a hassle. Steven had been having bad luck lately.
David Hollis thought, it might be because of the last conversation he had with Steven. When they were discussing returning to Earth, Steven unexpectedly said, “I will miss this place.”
Damn guy, why would he say something like that.
Yang Ping used his tea-drinking time to continuously simulate the surgery and enter the System Space. He performed simulation surgeries on the duplicate case almost non-stop, ensuring that the simulations were always the most up-to-date.
The brainstem’s complex vascular network branched out layer by layer, forming a world of its own.
On the duplicate test subject, the guidewire penetrated layer by layer to the deepest part of the medulla oblongata, into the nerve nucleus, and the final stretch saw the guidewire crawling along the vessel wall, advancing bit by bit, slowly but surely.
The coil was in position, release! The process was repeated countless times.