Chapter 1204: Explore first

Others looked at her face, recalling that she was Director Li’s prized protégé, and asked her: “How do you plan to use the bronchoscope on this child?”

Clearly, everyone was aware of the disparity in technical skill levels within the respiratory department.

Regarding this, Xin Yanjun had already brainstormed based on her experience during the journey and said: “You can only determine the outcome after the inspection. Thinking about it now doesn’t help much. The X-ray can only show a general situation.”

What she said wasn’t entirely wrong. For instance, surgeons always have to investigate the results first to decide whether a surgery can be performed or if an alternative method is required.

While they agreed with her words, at the same time, everyone’s eyes continued to focus on Xie Wanying.

Xie Wanying stood before the light panel, her clear and bright eyes studying and analyzing the child’s lungs on the X-ray.

Her silent contemplation seemed to make the surroundings fade away, prompting the group to feel a sense of solemn respect.

Rumors from General Surgery Department Two and Hepatobiliary Surgery had long suggested that her level of focus was unparalleled.

The operating room fell into an unusual silence, which frightened the anesthesiologist: Oh no, when surgeons stop talking, doesn’t that imply this matter is extremely troublesome? He quickly prepared short-duration anesthetics in addition to setting up the anesthesia machine, worried that the respiratory team might not manage successfully.

The patient’s condition couldn’t afford any delay.

The anesthesiologist anesthetized the child well, and a high-frequency ventilator was connected to the bronchoscope to provide additional oxygen during surgery.

Xin Yanjun donned her mask and gloves, standing at the head of the operating table, ready to start the investigation.

Assigned to assist her mentor, Xie Wanying, as always, stood at her usual side position, fully concentrating on the child patient and her teacher’s hands.

The bronchoscope entered the child’s nasal cavity. Thanks to the anesthesiologist administering sedatives in advance and spraying medication onto areas such as the glottis, the bronchoscope passed through the epiglottis and other checkpoints relatively smoothly.

Soon, the bronchoscope successfully entered the child’s airway.

The operating doctor, along with the observing doctors on the sidelines, held their breath and stared intently.

The bronchoscope probed further downward, meticulously searching the lower left lung lobe bronchus for the unknown foreign object based on the earlier X-ray images.

At last, they located the foreign object. The monitor screen displayed thick white secretions, indicating bronchial inflammation in the child.

At this stage, the operating doctor needed extreme precision and caution. A child’s tracheal diameter is very small, and coupled with inflammation, it’s prone to bleeding with even slight contact. Xin Yanjun’s palms, inside her gloves, were drenched with sweat.

The surrounding doctors watched her operation, seemingly feeling a trace of anxiety and tension themselves, their brows furrowing one after another.

Evidently, this investigative outcome was not favorable.

Part of the foreign object lodged in the child’s bronchus revealed itself.

The foreign object appeared to be encased in thick layers of inflammatory tissue, and the worst fear was that some fibrotic development had occurred—a situation most dreaded by doctors. This indicated the object’s texture could become harder and tougher. In such cases, whether using a bronchoscope or cardiology intervention, there’s a serious concern that the object might be too resistant to penetrate or dislodge. Without loosening the foreign object, miniature instruments simply couldn’t extract it.

Even more troubling for the bronchoscope was that the distal end of its shaft seemed to maintain some distance from the object.

“Probe further and see if the outer layer can be punctured.” Jin Tianyu decisively instructed in response to the investigative results, “If it can be, the length falling short doesn’t matter—we’ll handle it through intervention.”