The first surgery to be carried out was Chen Wenwei's. The surgery room was located on the tenth floor of the surgical building, a Grade I specially clean surgery room.
Grade I was the highest level of air cleanliness. It had the least dust and the lowest concentration of bacteria. It was suitable for brain and organ transplants.
Inside the spacious surgery room, Chen Wenwei was lying on the operating table in a patient's garb. He was asleep due to the anesthesia. Compared to the morning, the patient's young face had shrunk, and his cheeks were sunken.
The anesthesiologist and nurses waited for him. Soon, the door to the clean corridor opened, and a group of medical staff in sterile garb walked in.
Gu Jun walked among them. Looking at the well-equipped surgical environment and the bright lights around him, he was touched. He was back.
But … even though this was not a simple stone corridor, the surgery that was about to be carried out was much more barbaric.
"The patient's vitals are stable." The anesthesiologist, Guo Jun, who sat beside the anesthesia machine, told them, "The anesthetics can still suppress the patient's central nervous system."
Gu Jun glanced at the electroencephalogram on the monitor. The signal showed that Chen Wenwei was in a state of deep hypnosis. The electroencephalogram looked no different from a normal person. However, none of them had any experience with the possibility of triggering any stress reaction in the patient's body during the surgery.
The standard surgical method of lobotomies originated from an era when technology was outdated. The lack of accuracy was one of the reasons it was criticized.
But now, there were more sophisticated methods and more advanced imaging equipment. For example, MRI could be used to pinpoint the target, greatly increasing the accuracy of the surgery.
Lobotomies at this part of the brain were still used for cases like contusion or tumor lesions.
However, even though the patient's condition was still mild, his immune system and physical function were not as good as before. Therefore, the surgical plan had to consider the patient's postoperative recovery. Therefore, the plan was to combine the old method with the new technology. It was effective in destroying the white matter of the brain and had a lower risk of injury.
However, the main surgeon, Si Kouxian, the first assistant, Song Yilong, and the rest were all on standby.
Even though every single one of these middle-aged men was the best neurosurgeon in the Eastern State Medical Department, even the fourth assistant was no exception. They were used to performing all kinds of craniotomies, but they lacked experience when it came to this kind of barbaric method, and they could not afford the slightest mistake.
"Just treat it like a normal surgery." Si Kouxian encouraged the group and himself.
The group moved to their positions beside the operating table. neurosurgery had different positions. The main surgeon stood above the patient's head, the anesthesia machine was on the left, and the motor and instruments were on the right. Meanwhile, Gu Jun stood behind the scrub nurse and looked around.
At the same time, through the shadowless camera above the operating table and the many surveillance cameras around them, the situation here was being broadcasted in real time on a big screen in a conference room on this floor, as well as the research center in the Psychology Building and the research institute in the headquarters.
Countless researchers were watching silently. Professor Qin, Tang Zhifeng, and the others were among them.
Very soon, the image of the beginning of the surgery was displayed on every screen. Chen Wenwei's head was fixed by a three-nailed head frame and rotated 90 degrees to the opposite side of the surgical approach. His hair had long been shaved, and the EEG monitoring electrodes and sensing hemispheres were placed away from the surgical site.
Blood gushed out, but the bleeding was stopped. They first made a scalp incision, then a subcutaneous dissection …
Gu Jun watched intently from afar. Before he came, he had already read some information and participated in the preoperative meeting just now, so he knew what was going on.
A small hole was to be drilled on both sides of the patient's head, and the surgery would be performed at three different positions on each side.
Now, Si Kouxian used the single-pole electroknife to cut open the temporal fascia, temporal muscles, and periosteum. Then, he separated the corresponding musculocutaneous flap under the periosteum and fixed it with a retractor. The skull was exposed.
"Craniotomy drill," the main surgeon said, and the scrub nurse passed it to him.
Si Kouxian accepted a Midas Rex craniotomy drill fitted with a small drill. He bent down and aimed it at the patient's skull, which was right above the ear canal. He planned to drill the hole. The drilling position was already calculated.
The sound of the drill echoed, breaking the silence in the surgery room, command central, and other places. An undercurrent of nervousness was brewing.
Everyone in the surgery room was used to craniotomies. The one who was the most uncomfortable was still Gu Jun. Manipulating the head was always more chilling than the limbs.
He watched as the high-speed drill bit, which was spinning so fast that he could not see it clearly, slowly penetrated the hard skull of the patient …
Then the first assistant, Song Yilong, used a spoon to clean away the bone debris at the bottom of the drilling hole. Si Kouxian accepted a 'cerebral dissection'. It looked like a large screwdriver. The handle was connected to a long and thin probe that reached into the brain. There was an opening on the side and it did not have a sharp tip.
However, there was a steel coil hidden at the opening. With a pull of the handle, the steel coil would spring out and sever the nerve fibers.
Si Kouxian inserted the probe into the patient's brain through the drilling hole. When it reached a predetermined position, he stopped.
Song Yilong used the surgical navigation system's probe to give it a look. The computer screen next to him combined the preoperative MRI data to display the brain's condition in 3D. Song Yilong had Si Kouxian adjust the position of the amputation probe.
"This is a Nobel Prize-winning surgery," Si Kouxian grumbled.
Si Kouxian grumbled as he pulled on the handle of the amputation device. With a click, an invisible steel coil popped out and destroyed a part of the patient's frontal lobe …
Now that he had finished one spot on this side, there were still two spots left.
The air in the surgery room seemed to freeze. Gu Jun watched expressionlessly. He had no idea what kind of brain damage this would cause.
However, he knew that if there was no breakthrough in the treatment of Nightmare Illness, this was just the beginning. There would be many more surgeries to be carried out.
Bilateral cingulotomy, hemispherectomy …
In any case, the Medical Department would cut the patient's brain here and there to see what would happen.
This might seem like a violation of humanitarian law, but the patients had no choice, and neither did their doctors.
Before they could find a cure for the plague, they had returned to the bloody and ignorant olden days.
Before Si Kouxian finished adjusting the dissection, a beeping alarm echoed through the surgery room. The situation that they were worried about had happened. Anaesthetist Guo Jun said urgently, "The patient's heart rate is tachycardia! Even the electroencephalogram has deviated, this … "The data on the monitors were all jumbled up.
Before anyone could react, a strange, hoarse whimper came from the patient's head.
"Ah." The scrub nurse was the first to scream. Then the expressions of the circulating nurse and the group of doctors changed drastically.
Chen Wenwei, who had a hole in his head and a dissection machine inserted into it, suddenly opened his eyes and made a sound. There was only a blur in his eyes …
"Command central, the patient … the patient has woken up." Si Kouxian's first reaction to this was shock as well.
Even though there was a contingency plan for the patient to react to stress, that was merely a function change under anesthesia.
For a long time, there had been a small number of patients who would suddenly wake up during various surgeries. They could feel pain and hear the voice of the medical staff, but they could not move or speak. This was because the anesthetic had lost its effect but there was still the muscle relaxant. The patient could not control their muscles.
But now, Chen Wenwei could open his eyes and speak.
"Wenwei?" The expression on Si Kouxian's square face stabilized. He asked immediately, "Wenwei, can you hear me?"
But as Gu Jun watched, a strong sense of danger rose in his heart …
"Ph …" Chen Wenwei's body did not move, his head did not move but his face was strangely pale. His eyes were so bloodshot that they looked like they were about to bleed. The hoarse voice continued to come out of his lips, "Nglui … nafh … Cthulhu …"
Gu Jun's eyes widened. He could tell that it was that sentence!
“Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn”
Almost at the same time, he felt a huge spiritual shock wave violently pouncing over like a tsunami, erupting from where Chen Wenwei was.
"Ah!" Si Kouxian and Song Yilong, who were closest to him, suddenly screamed. Their hands instinctively pressed against their throbbing heads. Their faces that were mostly covered by the masks blanched and their bodies wavered.
Then, the second assistant, third assistant, fourth assistant, anesthetist, and the group of nurses, everyone in the room other than Gu Jun were drowned in pain!
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