Chapter 4

In the large room, Lei Beisha was implementing the principle of "eight strikes and a sweet date," and comforted them, saying, "In the initial stage of the internship, everyone will mainly focus on observation, emphasizing the learning of methods, diligent practice, and balancing work and rest. Today, I will mainly demonstrate for you. In the future, you will have plenty of time to practice in the training room, and when that time comes, you won't be able to stay away even if you want to."

Seeing Lei Beisha's attitude improve, Wang Zhuangyong quickly raised his hand, which was wearing a white glove, and asked, "Director Lei, how difficult is the tail reattachment of the white mouse, and where exactly is the challenge?"

"How difficult, you ask?" Lei Beisha thought for a moment and said, "Let me describe it. In our Yunhua Hospital's hand surgery department, in addition to medical students like you, we receive nearly a hundred doctors from other hospitals in the province each year for practical training. By the time these doctors leave, only a handful can complete the tail reattachment with a 95% blood flow success rate."

The students all let out a collective gasp.

Even the weakest of the doctors who come to Yunhua for retraining are stronger than medical students who have never been on the operating table. With this understanding, the students felt even more reverence for the white mouse's tail reattachment.

A few minutes later, Kang Jiuliang and Ling Ran sat on opposite sides of the table. The objective lens of the binocular microscope was aimed at the white mouse's tail, and the machine above provided a pair of eyepieces for Kang Jiuliang and Ling Ran.

"During normal practice, we cut the white mouse's tail into 60 to 80 segments. Today, we'll cut fewer because of the special circumstances," Kang Jiuliang said as he turned on the microphone on the side of the table and picked up the scalpel.

"The white mouse is so cute, don't cut its tail," a girl hiding in the crowd shouted.

Although he guessed she was joking, Kang Jiuliang still explained seriously, "Experimental animals are the unsung heroes of our medical school. We use them for practice to improve our skills and better serve humanity. Within our capabilities, we should also make the most of each experimental opportunity and minimize the suffering of the experimental animals. Therefore, we must be serious during practice... What are you doing, student?"

While Kang Jiuliang was speaking, he saw Ling Ran already cutting the anesthetized white mouse's tail into dozens of segments...

"You said to cut fewer today, so I cut 42 segments. Is that too few?" Ling Ran's scalpel gleamed.

The students watched with wide eyes, including the girl who had said, "The white mouse is so cute," who was so excited that she wished she had been the one to wield the scalpel.

"Since you've cut it, let's move on. You need to follow my instructions next," Kang Jiuliang said, looking at the pile of tail segments. He couldn't ask him to put them back together.

Actually, they were about to put them back together.

"I'll demonstrate first," Kang Jiuliang said, holding the forceps in his left hand and the needle holder in his right. "We are using microsurgical instruments, which many of you may not have used before. The main feature is their small size. For example, the thickness of the suture we are using is only one-tenth that of a human hair... Student, what's your name?"

"Ling Ran," Ling Ran answered.

"Are you not much of a talker?"

"Pretty much."

"You'll talk more in the future. Surgeons are chatterboxes during operations," Kang Jiuliang said, clearly a different person during surgery compared to before.

Ling Ran responded with an "oh."

Kang Jiuliang couldn't help but ask, "Aren't you curious why?"

"Because it's boring," Ling Ran answered.

The interns let out a light laugh.

Kang Jiuliang was taken aback and asked, "Was my question too boring?"

"It's because surgeons are bored during operations."

"Indeed, long surgeries can be very boring. We often spend ten to twenty hours on a hand surgery. Even if you don't want to talk, the people around you will," Kang Jiuliang said, no longer dwelling on Ling Ran's double entendre. He continued to operate while talking, as if the two were not interfering with each other.

At least from the interns' perspective, Kang Jiuliang's hands and mouth were moving at different paces.

Familiarity breeds skill, and this was probably the case.

Ling Ran was also familiarizing himself with the details of Kang Jiuliang's operations in his mind.

The white mouse's tail reattachment, in the end, is a vascular anastomosis.

Suturing the severed blood vessels requires six to eight stitches on the small cross-section to ensure smooth blood flow without obstruction or leakage.

During the suturing process, it's also important to avoid creating dead spaces.

To judge a surgeon's skill, it's all about these specific and minute details.

For a hand surgeon, after two to three years of training, they can usually reattach a severed tail. However, whether the tail functions normally after surgery, whether there is any pain or complications, depends not only on the condition of the white mouse but also on the surgeon's technique.

In short, suturing is not easy, and suturing well is even harder.

"Do you recognize the suturing technique I'm using?" Kang Jiuliang, bored with talking to himself, directly asked Ling Ran.

"It's simple interrupted suturing," Ling Ran said briefly.

"Are you familiar with it?" Kang Jiuliang asked, but then answered himself, "You should be. It's the most common and simplest suturing technique, also known as interrupted suturing, right? You tie a knot after each stitch. When I was practicing in school, this was the most common technique. How about you?"

"Pretty much," Ling Ran answered succinctly, his mind filled with information as he watched Kang Jiuliang's operation, with no interest in chatting.

"Alright, give it a try," Kang Jiuliang suddenly felt a bit annoyed. "I'm very busy, you know. I came here to demonstrate for you, and you can't even chat a bit."

He originally planned to do a few more anastomoses to help Ling Ran get familiar, but after completing one, he decided to let go.

Ling Ran was taken aback but didn't think much of it. He said, "Okay," and picked up the needle holder.

Kang Jiuliang's eyes had never left the eyepiece, but he couldn't help but look up and glance at Ling Ran.

As the saying goes, an expert's skill is evident from the first move. For microsurgery, the basic requirement is that the hand doesn't shake when holding the needle holder.

To sew eight stitches on a 0.5 cm diameter blood vessel, they were using a needle that was only one-fifth the thickness of a human hair. For ordinary people, the needle tip would tremble continuously when they picked up the needle holder.

The amplitude was so large that under the microscope, it looked like it was dancing.

In fact, any doctor who hadn't specifically practiced microsurgery would have a trembling hand when holding the needle holder under the microscope, and they would need to practice for a long time to stabilize it.

Some doctors even had to lift their arms until they were swollen to practice.

As for medical students...

Kang Jiuliang couldn't help but ask, "Do you still practice microsurgery at Yunhua University Medical School?"

"My family runs a small clinic," Ling Ran said, making up a lie, and the needle under the microscope headed for the fine blood vessel in the white mouse's tail.

Kang Jiuliang quickly focused his attention and saw that the blood vessel in the white mouse's tail didn't move at all under the microscope.

Kang Jiuliang raised an eyebrow.

In microsurgery, if the blood vessel doesn't tremble at all, it means there is no pulling, which is not just a basic requirement but a very high level of skill.

Some doctors practice this by sewing and tying knots on foam in a water basin, aiming to keep the foam from moving at all.

If the same level of suturing is used for a severed finger, the finger's recovery and future function will be significantly better.

Before he knew it, one anastomosis was completed.

Kang Jiuliang didn't even notice the specific time, but he knew it was at least faster than his own.

Thinking about this, Kang Jiuliang quickly looked at the anastomosis under the microscope. The exposed knots were consistent, and from the appearance alone, it was aesthetically pleasing, with no errors like false knots.

This was textbook-perfect vascular suturing and knotting, with no flaws.

A small clinic? Kang Jiuliang looked up at Ling Ran and thought, "How many fingers must your family's small clinic have cut to develop such suturing skills?"