Chapter 166 - 153: At the Critical Moment, It’s Still Up to Dr. Wu

Chapter 166: Chapter 153: At the Critical Moment, It’s Still Up to Dr. Wu

"Dr. Wu, you’re too kind."

After completing that maneuver, Wang Nanjin began to clamp the round ligament of the liver with hemostatic forceps, carefully controlling his strength as he gently pulled downward.

"Such solid fundamentals! His level of dissection is incredible."

Director Cai was also highly experienced in liver tumor resections, but in terms of technique, he could never match Wang Nanjin’s delicacy and precision!

Wu Ting observed intently, as liver tumor resection was still an area where he lacked experience.

"Beautiful."

Qin Donglai murmured in admiration. Next, Wang Nanjin dissected the falciform ligament, the left coronary ligament, and part of the right coronary ligament...

With Wu Ting’s 3D imaging displayed synchronously at his side, Wang Nanjin was in better form than ever before.

In one smooth sequence, his movements fluid, he completed the highly difficult dissection of the left lateral lobe and left triangular ligament...

"Such incredible focus!"

Inside the operating room, the directors from City First Hospital were repeatedly impressed by Wang Nanjin’s technique.

"As expected, no doctor from Haijin Port is ever run-of-the-mill."

This was the gap between doctors.

Qin Donglai and Cai Qi understood that this was a level of skill they could never hope to achieve in their lifetimes.

Fortunately, however, they still had Wu Ting in the operating room.

Wang Nanjin began dissecting the root of the left hepatic vein.

"...Electrocautery..."

Next came the most perilous part, the true test of a surgeon’s skill: the resection of the superficial tissue.

Wu Ting watched intently, ’I hope I can master this advanced liver tumor resection technique soon, too.’

With a top-tier assistant like Wu Ting, whose skills were unfathomably deep, Wang Nanjin felt the same sense of security he did when Director Shen was by his side.

With his focus absolute, he used the electrocautery to score the incision line. Then, with natural ease, he incised the liver capsule to the superficial tissue at the left margin of the inferior vena cava.

All in one smooth motion!

After that, Wang Nanjin found his groove, his movements growing ever smoother as he began to occlude the first porta hepatis.

"...Hemostatic forceps... Suture..."

Wang Nanjin finally understood why Director Shen Xiaofei praised Wu Ting so highly. Even Dr. Yan Xi was going to mention her time with Wu Ting in her speech as the outstanding graduate representative at the upcoming matriculation ceremony for the Jinggang University Medical School Graduate Department. She planned to thank him for the decisive help he had provided for her research.

During this operation, the addition of Wu Ting’s 3D imaging system drastically reduced the difficulty of the liver tumor resection. This also meant a significant decrease in potential surgical complications for the patient and a huge boost to the success rate.

Before long, Wang Nanjin resected another lesion.

Once complete hemostasis was achieved on the cut surface of the liver, he began to approximate the anterior and posterior edges, suturing them with a large needle and heavy-gauge thread!

"Placing a latex drainage tube on the cut surface of the left liver..."

Wang Nanjin completed another crucial step. After multiple resections, the lesions had essentially been cleared!

Next came another challenge in this surgery, one that had only been discovered intraoperatively.

"Director Cai, Director Qin, I’ve completed the liver tumor resection, but we have another challenge."

"Just now, while incising and occluding the porta hepatis, I discovered that the patient has a benign stricture of the hilar bile duct."

"I’m still relatively junior and lack experience as the lead surgeon for biliary tract procedures."

Wang Nanjin felt a bit frustrated. ’This patient’s case is truly complex. To discover another rare problem like this intraoperatively...’

Even if the benign hilar bile duct stricture wasn’t addressed during this operation, it wouldn’t affect the patient’s prognosis from the liver tumors.

However, it was still a potential risk for the patient. The best solution would be to address it at the same time.

For the patient, multiple surgeries would inevitably cause unpredictable trauma and take a tremendous physical toll.

The problem was, Wang Nanjin was not proficient in biliary surgery.

Within hepatobiliary surgery, procedures involving the biliary tract were a specialized field in their own right.

Even at a top institution like Haijin Port, they had well-established teams where each member specialized deeply in one or two surgical techniques.

Only those at the senior director level would be proficient in several different fields.

For someone as young as Wang Nanjin, achieving such mastery in liver tumor resection was already no small feat.

Following Wang Nanjin’s statement, both Qin Donglai and Cai Qi were faced with a choice.

They could either take over as lead surgeon and address the patient’s benign biliary stricture, or they could ignore the issue for now and focus on closing up after the liver tumor resection.

If Director Huo were here, with his decisiveness and skill, handling this bile duct problem would be no issue at all.

However, Qin Donglai lacked the confidence to perform the procedure alone. Compared to biliary surgery, he was more skilled in pancreatic procedures.

Director Cai Qi was perfectly capable of handling an uncomplicated biliary procedure.

But this surgery was different. It involved a rare hepatic mucinous cystic neoplasm, Wang Nanjin had already completed the majority of the resection, and now this issue with the hilar biliary stricture had cropped up mid-operation.

Cai Qi hesitated. He couldn’t guarantee that Wang Nanjin’s part of the surgery was without issue. He was confident he could handle the biliary problem itself if he took over, but he worried about other post-operative complications arising.

Essentially, he lacked familiarity with hepatic mucinous cystic neoplasms and had no experience in successfully diagnosing or treating them.

Although a surgeon from an outside hospital was leading, the operation was officially under the purview of City First Hospital.

As a department director, and with the initial diagnosis made by Song Qi and the primary responsibility shouldered by Qin Donglai of the Emergency Department, Cai Qi didn’t dare to jump in hastily unless he was one hundred percent certain.

This was why the Hepatobiliary Surgery Department’s development had always been tepid; Cai Qi worried too much, acted too cautiously, and lacked Huo Yun’s boldness.

"We can perform a hilar cholangioplasty and choledochojejunostomy for the patient! It’s not complicated!"

Just as Qin Donglai, Cai Qi, and Wang Nanjin were hesitating, each lost in their own thoughts, Wu Ting’s voice cut through their deliberations.

His tone was relaxed yet decisive, and the heavy atmosphere in the operating room instantly vanished.

Under the entry for Grandmaster (Black): Biliary Tract Series, Wu Ting’s skill in biliary surgery was absolutely top-tier in the nation.

He had been watching Wang Nanjin operate for so long that his hands were itching to get in on the action. Possessing Grandmaster Level skill in biliary surgery, Wu Ting was ready to put on a little demonstration for Wang Nanjin.

’Since this is an expert exchange week, it’s only proper to return the favor!’

Besides, Wu Ting shared Wang Nanjin’s opinion. It was better to resolve this potential issue now and prevent the patient from having to undergo a second surgery.

Unlike Director Cai Qi, he was in a different position. The Emergency Department had initiated this surgery, with Director Qin taking primary responsibility. Wu Ting had no reason to play it safe to protect himself, and with his skill in biliary surgery, there was nothing to fear.

"You can do it?"

Qin Donglai, Cai Qi, and Wang Nanjin were all taken aback.

Wang Nanjin, especially, was now completely certain. ’Wu Ting must be an expert in liver tumor resection, too.’

’He just gave me a chance to be in the spotlight.’

’So that I, the expert from Haijin Port, wouldn’t end up looking like a bumbling fool.’

’This Dr. Wu is a really great guy!’

"Dr. Wang has already completed the incision and exposed the hilar region. Now we just need to further dissect the bile duct and make a longitudinal incision along the stricture until it is clearly widened... After that, we’ll proceed with the jejunal anastomosis..."

Wu Ting wasted no time on pleasantries. As he explained his approach, he asked the scrub nurse for a scalpel.

The young nurse’s face lit up, and she obediently handed him the scalpel!

’At the critical moment, it doesn’t matter if you’re a Ph.D. from Haijin Port, the director of Hepatobiliary Surgery, or the newly appointed Director Qin—all of you, step aside.’

’The lead surgeon’s spot belongs to my handsome, dashing, and decisive Dr. Wu!’