Healing Doctor

Chapter 472 The Late-Stage Cancer Patient Who Was "Cureed"

"How many similar patients are there?" Director Fan asked.

He was worried that there wouldn't be enough patients, and if they all disagreed, he would have to do the work himself.

"A few hundred, I guess," Director Li Ming replied casually. "At first I could remember the exact number, but as the number increased, I forgot."

"How many are there in total?" Director Fan asked in surprise.

"Several hundred patients can live for more than three years after the surgery."

"!!!"

Director Fan was somewhat puzzled, somewhat surprised, and somewhat confused.

But he instantly suppressed all his emotions and said with heartfelt gratitude, "Director Li, thank you so much!"

"You're welcome," Director Li Ming said with a smile. "I've arranged for a doctor to work directly with you. If there's anything you can't resolve, just give me a call."

This attitude was completely different from how Director Yang of the Hepatobiliary Surgery Department treated him.

Director Fan felt that a huge pit was waiting for him ahead, but upon closer inspection, it didn't seem like much. Everything Director Li Ming did was at his request, and he was just cooperating like an ordinary person.

Seeing Director Fan's stunned expression, Director Li smiled slightly, "Director Fan, our small department can't compare to hepatobiliary surgery or neurosurgery."

"Oh?" Director Fan didn't understand what Director Li meant.

"They're a major department; they've had bigwigs since the founding of the People's Republic. You know how much influence they have, right?"

"I understand." Director Fan seemed to understand something.

"I only deal with a small part of interventional surgery, let's just say liver cancer. The experts didn't have any experience with it when they were young or middle-aged, so they didn't care about it. That's why interventional treatment for liver cancer has never been written into clinical guidelines, and the vast majority of patients, or rather, the vast majority of ordinary people, don't know about it."

"Let alone patients and ordinary people, if you ask all the medical staff in our First Affiliated Hospital, at least 80% of the doctors and nurses would have a hard time explaining what the interventional radiology department does," Director Li said with some helplessness.

"That's so exaggerated?!" Director Fan exclaimed in surprise.

"Of course," Director Li Ming said earnestly. "I'm not trying to flatter you, and I don't have any other requests. I just want to use this program to do some popular science, so that people know the scope, content, and effectiveness of our interventional department's work."

"But speaking of which, I want to see what the final sentence says, okay?"

"Yes, yes, you must be there to guide us during the editing process. We will strive to create a highly professional program; it would be bad if there were any flaws." Director Fan's doubts were completely dispelled.

He reached out and shook hands firmly with Director Li Ming.

"Director Li, it's a pleasure to work with you."

"Of course, the surgery just now went very smoothly," said Director Li Ming. "Dr. Ji's surgical skills are very high, no wonder he scoffed at Boss Qin's offer to recruit him."

This involves inside stories of the medical community that can't be shown on TV. Director Fan vaguely knows a little about it, but he's not interested in it; he's only thinking about what he can film.

After the surgery, a doctor pushed the patient back home, and Director Li Ming assigned a junior doctor to Director Fan.

"Hello Director Fan, my name is Han Chu, I am the chief resident of the interventional radiology department, and my professional title is attending physician." Dr. Han introduced himself to Director Fan very politely.

Dr. Han cooperated well with Director Fan's work and contacted ten "old" patients in a very short time, and found their information on the computer.

The film crew began recording.

These ten patients, like the one who just underwent surgery, were all in the late stage of cancer, and neither surgery nor medication could cure them.

Dr. Han first showed Director Fan a patient's imaging data and explained the location and size of the tumor.

The tumor was about 10cm in size, and the patient had essentially no intact liver after liver cancer resection.

Director Fan expressed his incomprehension regarding this.

Judging by his previous "common sense," this type of patient was already on the verge of death... no, his whole body was already in danger.

The second image was taken right after surgery. Bright spots could be seen around the tumor. Dr. Han explained that those were iodine oil that had been injected during the surgery, which can kill cancer cells.

The imaging data from the second hospitalization 35 days later showed that the tumor had begun to die.

"Dr. Han, I don't feel there's much change," Director Fan said, somewhat puzzled.

"The patient only has one lobe of the liver left. If too much medication is injected at once, the effect will indeed be good, but the patient's liver function may not be able to withstand it. Moreover, there is the possibility of tumor necrosis, rupture, and bleeding."

"Therefore, we always perform surgeries gradually, and we need to observe the patient's condition after the operation. We dare not be too aggressive all at once."

"Some patients don't understand, thinking we're just trying to make more money, and there's nothing we can do about it. But honestly, who would want to take threads if there's nothing wrong with it?"

After Dr. Han finished explaining, he began showing the patient's other images.

As time goes by, the tumor changes with each follow-up examination, and even Director Fan, who is an ordinary "member of the public", can see that the tumor has shrunk significantly.

The effect is obvious, and there is absolutely no need for Dr. Han to explain it.

After 12 surgeries, the tumor on the imaging has disappeared.

The surgical outcome astonished Director Fan. How could someone who had been on the verge of death be "rescued" like that? If he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, Director Fan would have thought it was a fantasy.

"The patient now has a follow-up appointment every three months. This is the most recent scan." Dr. Han reviewed the latest images. "The caudate lobe of the liver has regrowth, and the patient has excess liver function reserve, which is fantastic!"

"It's been six years already," Director Fan murmured.

"Well, this isn't the longest case. We had an elderly patient with late-stage liver cancer who lived for 12 years. He later passed away due to a brain hemorrhage. At that point, surgery was no longer necessary, so after discussing it with the patient's family, we decided to give up and let the elderly man pass away peacefully."

"!!!" Director Fan felt he had learned something new.

"Let's look at the imaging data of the next patient."

After introducing one patient's information, Dr. Han began to talk about the next patient.

The patients had similar medical histories: recurrence of liver cancer after resection, and despite radiotherapy and chemotherapy, the growth of tumor cells could not be stopped, leaving them on the verge of death.

With no other options, the patient went to the interventional radiology department for treatment.

It was another long treatment period, and the patient recovered after more than ten surgeries.

Although Director Fan knew there was survivor bias involved, he found it unacceptable that a hospital could have "cured" hundreds of late-stage liver cancer patients over a decade of experience.

Dr. Han was very patient and explained the patient's condition and imaging results step by step in a clear and organized manner.

The film crew continued filming.

In the commentary booth, the bald host asked, somewhat puzzled, "Professor Shen, can liver cancer really be cured?"

Professor Shen shook his head.

"It's incurable. These patients at the First Affiliated Hospital seem to have recovered, but they still need to have a check-up every three months. If a new tumor develops, they will need to undergo surgery again."

His explanation was rather complicated, and the guests didn't understand it.

Professor Shen murmured one last time, "But isn't it good that it can extend survival time?"

(End of this chapter)