I can see the status bar

Chapter 780 Weighing
When something happens that science cannot explain, ordinary people may question whether their understanding of science is broad enough.The ignorant may look to some supernatural logic for an explanation.Those who have a relatively full and cutting-edge understanding of science will consider whether it is necessary to "correct" the known scientific content.

Physicians belong to the last category.The progress and changes of Tang Min's condition cannot be explained by science, and Sun Li'en and Rachel naturally thought of a...shocking possibility.

"First of all, we're not sure it's cancer yet." Rachel began the analysis, sounding agitated. "But if it's not cancer, that doesn't explain the rise in tumor markers."

"The possibility of a tumor is very high." Sun Lien agreed with Rachel's opinion, "The question now is why the result of her tumor mark half a year ago was normal, and the tumor would appear by itself and then be absorbed."

There are two key points at the core of Sun Lien's question. The first is the reason why the tumor disappears on its own, and the second is the reason why many top hospitals have not found the tumor before.Both questions are very puzzling and contradictory.If Tang Min hadn't had any tumors in the past six months, then the tumors would have progressed and spread within the tissue after half a year... This speed of progression probably means that Tang Min's immune function is limited.

If she developed an immunodeficiency that the doctors could not detect, it would be even more unexplainable for the tumor to disappear naturally.All known self-healing cancers have turned out to be the body's own immune system.Because of this, immunocompromised patients are high-risk groups for various tumors.

After this direction proves to be problematic, there is only one possibility left.

"She probably had a tumor before, but due to various factors, the state of the tumor is the same as now, it keeps appearing and disappearing." Sun Lien made such a judgment, "But this situation is still a threat to her , the tumor has metastasized to the organ. Her immune system cannot completely destroy all the cancer cells, and if it continues, she still has the risk of distant metastasis.”

"Her tumor marks are normal, which is probably because of this." Rachel nodded, "After the immune system has wiped out most of the tumors, the tumor markers will naturally drop to normal values."

"But because the immune system can't find the most critical tumor stem cells, her cancer will keep recurring..." Sun Lien continued to add, "then the next question is very simple, to understand why the cancer in her body It will be suppressed, and then find a way to solve the tumor stem cells in her brain."

This matter is easy to say, but the difficulty in actual operation is so great that it is impossible to do it.At least Sun Lien has no clue about the reason for the tumor suppression.

First of all, it is certain that Tang Min's immune system is not much different from other people's.They are very efficient, but at the same time not sharp enough.The immune system can quickly intervene when the tumor development is suppressed, but it is still unable to find the key tumor stem cells, so the tumor will continue to form-disappear.

So, what is the difference between Tang Min and others?The answer is obvious - Tang Min suffers from AQP4 protein deficiency syndrome.As a seven-year-old girl, the biggest difference between her and others lies in this.However, Sun Lien was still unable to determine the specific reasons for the difference.Does underexpression of AQP4 protein itself suppress tumor development, or is the consequence of AQP4 underexpression suppressing tumor growth?

If it's the former, then everything is fine.Current treatment options cannot reverse the status quo of insufficient AQP4 protein expression.But if it is the latter... This means that Sun Lien and others must weigh the risk of tumor and interstitial edema.

Sun Lien and Rachel fell into silence at the same time.Obviously, the two thought of this at the same time.

"If the effect is caused by the insufficient expression of AQP4 protein, then we only need to intervene against the tumor." Rachel said after a long silence, "lomustine or carmustine or teniposide They are all options.”

"These chemotherapy drugs all have the effect of suppressing the immune system?" Sun Lien thought for a while and said, "Shouldn't they be used after the tumor is completely absorbed? Her current immune system is attacking the tumor. If it is suppressed, it is likely There will be tumor spread."

"This... I have no good solution." Rachel said helplessly, "The patients we have dealt with in the past have to use anticancer drugs, and we don't need to count on the type of immune system. It seems that this immune system can also control tumors." The patient... Anyway, I have never seen it."

"Wait a while and observe." After much consideration, Sun Lien decided not to rush to treat him.Tang Min's tumor recurrence has a characteristic - as far as the three cases observed so far, the tumor did not recur at the same location.And tumors don't appear in plural. "If it's still the same pattern, wait until her tumor is absorbed. If the pattern changes, then start intervening right away."

"This choice is also risky." Rachel reminded, "According to the principle of tumor treatment, the earlier the intervention, the better the patient's prognosis."

"If chemotherapeutic drugs are used immediately, ideally, the effective rate of chemotherapeutic drugs is about 60%, and the effective rate of some schemes may be lower." Sun Lien thought for a while, and decided to stick to his opinion, "After all, according to the existing According to the analysis of the situation, the probability of the patient’s own tumor elimination is still 100%. Our current focus should be to prevent tumor recurrence and distant metastasis. If we give up this point and use chemotherapy drugs all at once, the patient’s benefit may be even lower.”

Seeing Rachel hesitate to speak, Sun Lien sighed and said, "Well, I will ask the oncology department for consultation later. After their consultant doctor comes, let's discuss it together." After all, Sun Lien is not a professional oncologist Doctors, the understanding of chemotherapy regimens is still very one-sided, and it can even be said to be almost ignorant.Although he is Tang Min's doctor in charge, Sun Li'en must admit that he is still a complete rookie when it comes to treating tumors.

There is no shame in admitting to being a novice in order to properly treat patients.Rather, this is what a responsible doctor looks like.

After downloading the consultation request from the computer, Sun Lien was about to continue discussing the details of the treatment with Rachel.Yuan Pingan ran over with a scattered document.

"What's the good news?" Sun Li'en saw Yuan Ping'an's "excited" state at a glance, and asked preemptively, "What did you find?"

"The reason why the tumor is contained has been found!" Yuan Ping'an waved the copy paper in his hand excitedly, but because the wave was too strong and the copy paper itself was not fixed, the pieces of paper flew out and remained in Yuan Pingan's hands. Between the thumb and index finger, there are only the first and last pieces of paper left.However, this episode did not affect Yuan Ping'an's excitement. He yelled at Sun Li'en, "It's the AQP4 protein!"

(End of this chapter)