I can extract side effects.

Chapter 556 Humanitarian Exemption Surgery
After 60 years of hard service in the world, Zhao Hong's heart stopped working.

From the perspective of a cardiac surgeon, this is nothing more than normal.

The human heart beats 60 to 100 times per minute, and the work of pumping blood in a lifetime is equivalent to lifting an object weighing 3 kilograms to the top of the Himalayas.

If it were replaced by a machine, it would have broken down long ago.

Being able to persist for 60 years is indeed a miracle of nature.

In fact, as early as ten years ago, Zhao Hong began to feel powerless.

Over the years, a severe heart condition made him live a life of no quality at all.

At the beginning, when I went up two floors, I was so weak that I couldn't open the door.

Later, he was out of breath in the middle of the night and was hospitalized repeatedly.

Up to now, he can barely walk, and he will be out of breath when he moves a little. He has to be admitted to the ICU once a month to save his life.

Accompanied by his son, he traveled all over the country to hospitals, and every hospital gave him a critical illness notice. The doctor made it clear that only by undergoing a heart transplant would he have a slight chance of survival.

"A normal person's heart is like a balloon. It's the limit at 80. Your heart failure has reached 79. Even if you sit still on the bed, the heart may burst at any time. Once broken, the heart is gone."

After returning from Anzhen Hospital in Beijing, the words of the director of Xinwai have been echoing in his mind, and he has completely fallen into despair.

Finding a successor heart became his greatest wish.

However, the reality is cruel.

Finding a suitable donor heart for transplantation is extremely difficult.

There are tens of millions of heart failure patients in Huaxia, and 5% of them will develop severe heart failure and enter the waiting list for heart transplantation.

There are only a few hundred hearts available for transplant each year, and many heart failure patients die while waiting for a heart transplant.

Out of a hundred patients waiting for a heart transplant, only one will get it.

Zhao Hong waited for a full ten years, but he couldn't wait for a matching heart.

In the end, even he himself gave up, lying helplessly on the bed every day, using a lot of drugs to maintain the little life left.

He knew in his heart that his heart was extremely fragile.

As the doctor said, his heart failure has now reached the level of 79.9999, and his heart is like a glass bottle full of cracks. Even a slight cough can completely shatter into a pile of slag.

After heart failure, other organs such as the liver, kidneys, lungs, stomach, etc. will also begin to function less and gradually fail.

For patients with terminal heart failure who rely solely on oral drug therapy, the 1-year survival rate is only 15%.

On this day, Zhao Hong was lying on the bed in a drowsy sleep when he was suddenly awakened by the ringing of the phone.

He listened to it, and it seemed that his son's cell phone rang.

I vaguely heard my son talking, words such as "heart failure", "animal experiment", "clinical use", "pig and sheep" were heard.

He thought it was his son who was consulting some doctor, so he stopped paying attention and stared at the ceiling in a daze.

At 60, there is not much hope for a heart transplant.

At this age, even if there is a matching heart, it is difficult to give him, but younger patients will be considered.

Unless there is really no one who wants this heart, it will be his turn.

Even thinking about it with his heels, he knew that this kind of thing couldn't happen.

Even if you are lucky enough to wait for a heart suitable for transplantation.

What greeted him was also a race against time.

You must know that the heart is the most difficult organ to preserve, and the hearts used for transplantation are all taken from brain-dead people.

And the heart begins to deteriorate the moment it is removed from the donor.

Under normal frozen storage conditions, its shelf life is only 4-6 hours, and doctors must complete the entire transplantation process during this period.

Not every recipient happens to be there, so more than half of all donated hearts worldwide are damaged in transit due to prolonged ischemia, making them unusable for transplantation.

Even if you barely work, the longer the ischemia time, the worse the effect after transplantation and the higher the mortality rate.

It can be seen that a successful heart transplant operation requires the right time, location, and harmony of people, all of which are indispensable.

If the patient is lucky, the donor happens to die in the same hospital, and the doctor is highly skilled, he can complete a heart transplant operation that can be called the pinnacle of surgical difficulty within 4 hours.

The matter does not end here. After the operation, the patient still needs to take anti-rejection drugs for life to suppress his own immune system.

If you don't take your medicines on time, or if you develop any infection, all efforts will be ruined.

During this period, the operation fee was almost 60 yuan, and the anti-rejection drugs were taken all the time in the later period, which cost tens of thousands of yuan a year.

"The operation fee is 60 yuan, the rejection drug is 4 yuan a year, and it costs 100 million yuan in ten years. The life expectancy of a heart transplant should exceed 10 years. If I live to 75 years old, I will spend at least 120 million yuan. If there are other problems in the future, It will cost more."

"If it doesn't work, we can only sell the old-age house..."

Zhao Hong pondered in his heart, calculating this number again and again, and couldn't help but let out a long sigh.

I have worked hard all my life and saved some savings. I have spent all my money on medical treatment these years, and only the house is worth a little money. After the medical treatment, there is probably not much left.

Everything gained in exchange for 60 years will still be vomited out when you get old, and you will return it exactly, and nothing will be left behind in the end.

What has happened in this life?

For this kind of opportunity to go bankrupt, I can't even ask for it, and I can't wait for ten years. I don't have that life, haha.

Zhao Hong was complaining to himself, when he suddenly heard footsteps, looked up, and saw his son rushing in excitedly.

"Dad, good news, my cousin just called me, you are saved!"

Zhao Hong's eyes flashed instantly, he grabbed his son's hand, and said in a trembling voice.

"Wait, wait for the heart?"

The son nodded frantically: "It's over, I finally got an artificial heart."

"Huh?" Zhao Hong was immediately disappointed, and let go of his hand: "Isn't it a heart transplant?"

The son hurriedly said: "Dad, this is not an ordinary artificial heart, it is the latest artificial heart developed by Sanqing Group, Sanqing, Sanqing, did you hear that?"

Zhao Hong waved his hand impatiently: "Got it, isn't it a ventricular assist device?"

"Did you forget what the doctor said? An artificial heart won't work for me."

The son patiently explained: "I know, but Sanqing's artificial heart is different."

"The doctor once said that the artificial hearts currently on the market are all left ventricular assist devices. For people like you who have failed left and right ventricles, they don't have much effect. Only a foreign total artificial heart can be used, but That is temporary, and it can only be used for a period of time while waiting for the transplant, and it won't take long."

"Don't worry, my cousin told me very clearly that Sanqing is a fully artificial heart, which can completely replace the heart's function. Even if the heart stops beating, it can still make the blood pump again."

Zhao Hong's eyes widened. The amount of information in these words was too much for him to digest for a while.

But the only thing he understood was that Sanqing's artificial heart could be used on him.

Seeing that he was still in a daze, his son took out his mobile phone and handed it to him.

"Sanqing's artificial heart has already been used on animals. Look at this sheep, does it look ordinary and nothing unusual? In fact, its heart has been removed and replaced with Sanqing's artificial heart. .”

Zhao Hong took the phone with a trembling hand and looked at the screen.

This is a place that looks like a laboratory. Inside a metal fence, there are two very ordinary looking sheep.

The only abnormality of the two sheep is that there is something like a charging treasure hanging around their necks, and nothing else.

Zhao Hong frowned: "Isn't this an ordinary sheep? What's so strange about it?"

"Don't worry, look back, it will be surgery soon."

The image of the two sheep flashed by, followed by the operating table, on which a sheep lay asleep, and a group of medical staff were busy nearby.

Open the chest cavity, remove the left and right ventricles, install the artificial heart, start it, close the chest...

A series of pictures appeared in front of his eyes, and Zhao Hong's breathing became short of breath.

Before the video was finished, the phone slipped from his hands, and he clutched his chest, panting heavily.

"Dad, Dad, it's too bad! I'm sick again."

When the son saw something bad, he quickly took his mobile phone and dialed 120 for emergency services.

Seeing that the old father was sent to the ICU because of being too excited, he couldn't help crying and laughing, and called his cousin Dr. Zhao again.

"Brother, I'm afraid Dad is really going to die this time, so please help me get in touch quickly, please!"

******
"Okay, okay, Mr. Wang, thank you very much."

Dr. Zhao hung up the phone, a hanging heart finally fell down.

Last night, his uncle was sent to the No. 1 People's Hospital in Kunming City because of end-stage heart failure, and his cousin hurriedly called to ask for help.

Based on his previous understanding, if there is no accident, there is a high probability that the uncle will be transferred to the ICU this time.

But a month ago, the animal experiment center where he worked ushered in a blockbuster project-artificial heart.

The experiment of artificial hearts on large animals was very successful. After the two sheep were fitted with artificial hearts, they were alive and well.

Such an effect opened his eyes wide, and he immediately thought of his uncle's heart failure.

So he found the dean, asked for the number of Mr. Wang in Sanqing, and called for help.

His purpose is very simple, he just wants to find a chance for his own uncle and replace him with Sanqing's artificial heart.

Since this product has not yet started clinical trials, it is logical that it cannot be used on any patient.

He thought of one exception, and that was humanitarian exempt surgery.

In layman's terms, when a patient is diagnosed as incurable and has only three days left in his life, as long as he obtains the consent of the patient or his family, he can use drugs and medical devices that have not passed clinical trials and make the last attempt.

These things have not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration, and they can only be regarded as dead horses.

Generally, three requirements must be met. The first is that the family members sign the agreement to avoid subsequent accountability, so that the family members will not have to go to the hospital to settle accounts after the death.

The second is to go through the review and consent of the hospital ethics officer. The staff will talk to the family members to understand the situation and make sure that nothing illegal or unethical has happened.

The last step is to go to the health department for filing. If you do not file, you will not be able to perform the operation.

It will take about two or three days for the whole process to go down, and then the doctor will perform the operation.

After getting Sanqing's consent, Dr. Zhao acted together with his cousin.

Fortunately, he has a good understanding of these procedures, and he also knows people in the hospital and the health department, and finally got approval from the health department within two days.

In this way, after lying in the ICU for two days, Zhao Hong finally got his dream heart.

******
In the operating room, Zhao Hong lay quietly on the operating table, his chest was opened, and his heart, which had been with him for 60 years, heaved indiscernibly.

On the operating cart not far from him, another artificial heart is ready.

Artificial heart transplantation is a major operation, and Director Li of the Cardiac Surgery Department will personally act as the chief surgeon.

As for other doctors, they packed the entire operating room to the brim.

Everyone held their breath and focused on the operation picture on the screen.

"Our heart is divided into four chambers: left atrium, left ventricle, right atrium and right ventricle. The atrium is responsible for the return of blood throughout the body, while the ventricle is responsible for pumping blood. The left ventricle is mainly responsible for pumping blood to the whole body. Most patients with heart failure also have left heart failure."

"When a patient has both left and right ventricle failure, it is difficult to achieve therapeutic purposes with only a ventricular assist device placed in the left ventricle."

"At this point we have two options: either implant the patient with two ventricular assist devices, one on each heart, or implant a total artificial heart."

"Of course, heart transplantation is also a good option."

"For heart transplantation, the advantage of an artificial heart is that it does not require a heart donor, the operation is simple, and the rejection reaction is small. The disadvantage is that the application time is relatively short and it is easy to cause blood clots."

"Sanqing's artificial heart is a total artificial heart. It is said that it can replace a real heart. If it can be done, it will be one of the greatest miracles in the history of cardiac surgery."

"It is a great honor for us to witness the birth of this cross-age product."

"Okay, without further ado, the operation will officially begin."

"First, we need to open the chest to expose the heart, and then connect the artificial heart-lung machine to establish extracorporeal circulation. Then inject cardioplegic solution into the heart to stop the heart, and temporarily replace the heart's function with the artificial heart-lung machine."

Since it was still a teaching operation, Director Li skillfully inserted catheters into the aorta and superior and inferior vena cava while explaining, temporarily blocking the blood flow.

These catheters are connected to a heart-lung machine that pumps blood throughout the body.

"The second step is to remove the left and right ventricles that pump blood, leaving only the left and right atria that return blood."

"This patient's dilated cardiomyopathy has reached an advanced stage. The left ventricle of a normal person is only 30-40mm, but his has reached 90mm. In addition to the right ventricle, the heart has more than doubled in size and its function is severely damaged. The ventricle can't stay."

He then cut the right ventricle, cut the apex, and cut the left ventricle.

Then cut off the pulmonary artery root and pulmonary valve, and the aorta in turn.

Finally, the entire ventricle is removed altogether.

(End of this chapter)