Chapter 51: The family member is throwing a tantrum.The bone fragments have been completely removed!
“Forceps number 3!” Lin Feng said in a serious tone.
The forceps were handed to him. The nurse handed over the surgical instruments one by one. They needed to be handled with a certain degree of force, reminding the surgeon to be cautious not to misidentify them and, more importantly, not to cause accidental harm.
In a hundred years of surgical history, some doctors accidentally cut themselves during surgery and died from tetanus infections.
Lin Feng’s gaze remained steady as he gently inserted the forceps into the circular gap, securing a bone spur and carefully removing it!
This was the bone fragment that had led to the patient’s paralysis!
The primary culprit!
It used to be a part of a hypertrophic disc herniation, but when Auntie fell, it was impacted and broke, piercing the nerve. With the fragment’s crisp sound as it fell onto the surgical tray, Zhang Yuan and the nurses breathed sighs of relief.
The main culprit had been identified. Half of the mission had been accomplished. But Lin Feng didn’t relax; his gaze remained sharp as he searched for other fragments. He switched to finer forceps and extracted an extremely small fragment piece. After confirming that there were no more fragments, Lin Feng proceeded to the next step of the surgery.
“Scrape off the bone spurs at the posterior aspect of the vertebral body and the facet joints.”
If these proliferative bone spurs were not removed, they would continue to compress the spinal nerves in the future. Lin Feng used a scraper and an impact thin-mouthed bone-biting forceps, alternating between them, silently expanding the excision area, eliminating the bone spurs, and further decompressing the nerves.
He removed the upper edge bone spur of the upper vertebral body from above and the lower edge bone spur of the lower vertebral body from below, achieving a 22mm hook edge on both sides.
Lin Feng reached out again, “Hook knife!”
He observed that the posterior longitudinal ligament had thickened, causing compression on the spinal cord, so he simply removed it to relieve the compression further.
The anterior cervical decompression was completed. Lin Feng completed a dazzling series of operations and removed the cervical distractor…
Properly expand the deformed cervical spine! Adjust the cervical distractor to keep the cervical spine relatively healthy.
And then… begin the fixation!
Use the expanding screws to implant autogenous tricortical iliac bone grafts through the bone window that was just opened!
These preferably autogenous bone grafts, were taken out in advance to prevent rejection reactions and accelerate the patient’s healing. After all, the cervical spine is the most critical part of the human body. After the decompression surgery, going without any filling material is not acceptable. It must be filled.
Theoretically, as long as a properly sized steel plate is placed in the right position on the patient and secured with screws, keeping the patient’s cervical spine supported by the steel plate in an appropriate expanded state without compressing the nerves, it would be a complete success!
Lin Feng inserted two sharp vertebral bodies at a distance of 8-10mm above and below the implanted bone grafts along the midline of the vertebral bodies. These two sharp vertebral bodies opened the incision and marked the starting position of the steel plate!
The nurse brought a tray, and Lin Feng selected a 20mm steel plate, carefully choosing the curvature to fit perfectly in front of the bone graft. This way, the bone graft would be firmly fixed and unable to move.
Lin Feng used fixation pins to secure the steel plate!
He adjusted the bone-plate interface and slightly adjusted the steel plate’s position using a nerve dissector. With a nerve dissector, he carefully explored the area in front of the vertebral bodies, making additional minor adjustments to the position of the steel plate.
Once the position of the steel plate was confirmed, Lin Feng decisively drilled holes and inserted the fixation screws!
After confirming the correct position of the steel plate, Lin Feng decisively drilled holes and inserted the anchor screws for fixation! Sᴇaʀᴄh thᴇ NʘvᴇlFɪre.ɴet website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.
Additionally, the drilling must avoid penetrating the gaps between the bones to maintain the stability of the fixation.
Layer by layer, the wound was sutured, and drains were left in place. Finally, the nurse cleaned up, counted the surgical instruments, and closed the abdominal incision.
The surgery was complete!
…
Outside the operating room, Dr. Qiao Hanruo’s father, Deputy Secretary-General Qiao Yuanshan, arrived along with several relatives, including the director of the First Municipal Hospital.
Dr. Qiao Hanruo explained the situation to her father. Qiao Yuanshan sternly questioned, allowing an intern and an emergency department doctor to perform such a significant surgery on his wife.
Qiao Hanruo defended the decision, explaining that Dr. Lin had accurately diagnosed her mother’s condition and had a strong track record in performing complex surgeries.
Despite her explanations, Qiao Yuanshan was furious and felt they should have consulted with him before proceeding with the surgery.
Qiao Hanruo argued that Dr. Lin had emphasized the importance of early treatment for her mother’s condition. Tensions escalated, and the director of the First Municipal Hospital, Wang Chang, remained relatively calm but concerned about the outcome. He had confidence in Dr. Lin Feng’s surgical abilities, having closely followed his impressive performances in various surgeries.
However, the patient, being the wife of a high-ranking official, added pressure to the situation. As the green light outside the operating room signaled the surgery’s completion, everyone anxiously awaited the outcome.