godfather of surgery

Chapter 1145 As if facing a formidable enemy
After leaving Yang Ping's office, Zhang Lin immediately went to see Director Meng of the radiology department and asked: "Does the X-ray show a fracture with separation at the fracture ends and a very obvious fracture gap? If so, we can be sure that the patient has a fracture."

Director Meng was stumped by their question. The renowned Professor Zhang and Professor Lu from the institute had come all the way to the radiology department just to ask such a silly question, which made Director Meng afraid to answer, fearing that there might be some trap.

"We don't have any other purpose, we just want to ask this question," Zhang Lin reassured Director Meng, "this isn't a riddle."

Director Meng looked at Xiao Wu again, and Xiao Wu immediately nodded: "There's no other deeper meaning, please rest assured, we just wanted to ask this basic question."

"The X-ray shows it so clearly, there's definitely a fracture, is there any doubt about that?"

Director Meng carefully stated his answer.

The question was ordinary, and the answer was ordinary, but the people who asked the question were not ordinary. They were from the research institute. Why would they suddenly ask such a simple question? Thinking about it, Director Meng felt a little regretful. He shouldn't have given the answer so hastily. He should have thought it through before answering.

"Is there another answer? Am I wrong?"

Director Meng looked at Zhang Lin, then at Xiao Wu.

Several doctors who were gathered around assumed that the director and two professors from the institute were discussing images of some difficult cases, but after hearing their conversation, they were completely confused. What was the question, and what was the answer?

“That’s what I thought too. Since the X-ray showed such a clear fracture, the patient must have a fracture. Professor Yang asked me about such a simple question, and even said that it was a simple question, but also a profound logical question, and told me to think about it carefully.” Zhang Linhe explained the background of the question.

Good heavens, these are the questions Professor Yang posed to them.

Director Meng couldn't help but feel a chill run down his spine, and he was extremely regretful. How could the answer to Professor Yang's question be so simple?

"My answer just now was based on a common scenario. If we delve deeper into this question, it is actually a profound logical problem, and I need to think about it carefully."

"What are your opinions? Everyone heard the question just now, right?"

Director Meng decided to pool the collective wisdom to answer the question. Since they had already come here to ask for advice, he would lose face if his answer was not good enough.

Everyone looked at each other, not daring to answer casually. Their brains were definitely not that simple; otherwise, how could such a thing have come out of Professor Yang's mouth?

The radiology department is usually very busy, with everyone busy reviewing images. However, apart from some emergency images that require quick reports, other non-emergency images can be processed more slowly, so taking a break is not a big deal.

Several PhD students, upon hearing the topic being discussed, immediately stopped what they were doing and gathered around to join the discussion.

"You said it's so obvious on the X-ray, what else could it be but a fracture? Is there another diagnosis?"

"Yes, I can't think of a second diagnosis."

"Can a tumor or infection erode bone, causing bone defects and creating gaps that resemble fractures?"

“I already said there are obvious signs of a fracture. The fracture ends are very different from defects caused by tumors or infection eroding fractures; you can tell at a glance. How could you confuse them?” “A pathological fracture?”

"A pathological fracture is still a fracture."

"Why do X-rays of other diseases look similar to obvious fractures, making them difficult to distinguish?"

"No! If it's not an obvious fracture, there are many differential diagnoses. If it's an obvious fracture with a large fracture gap, do we still need differential diagnoses? Making a diagnosis directly won't be wrong. In my more than ten years as a doctor, I have never misdiagnosed an obvious fracture as another disease."

"Did you hear that correctly?"

Everyone chimed in with their own opinions, discussing for a long time without reaching a conclusion, so they had to confirm with Xiao Wu and Zhang Lin again.

Xiao Wu shook his head: "It's impossible to have misheard. We both heard it clearly. How could we be wrong?"

“Professor Yang said this is a profound logic problem? This should be the key information to solving it.” A young PhD student said, “Come on, let’s analyze the question carefully. Write down the question completely and without error, without missing a single word.”

Xiao Wu began to dictate, and Zhang Lin neatly wrote it down on a piece of paper.

"The X-ray shows a fracture, and the fracture is quite obvious, with clear separation of the fracture ends. Does that mean the patient definitely has a fracture? Let me analyze the question. This is a judgment sentence with 'if...then...' as the conjunction. 'If' is the premise, 'then' is the conclusion. Logically, 'If A then B' is a hypothetical proposition. If this judgment sentence is true, A is a sufficient condition for B, and B is a necessary condition for A. Let's take another look..."

Dr. Shi Jia, a young radiologist, had just graduated and was full of passion. She began to carefully examine the question, just like doing the last challenging question in the college entrance examination.

"To refute the proposition 'If A then B,' one only needs to provide a counterexample. One counterexample is sufficient. That is, an X-ray shows a fracture, and the fracture is very obvious with clear separation of the fracture ends. In this case, is there any case where the patient does not end up with a fracture? Once such an example exists, the proposition is a false proposition. If no example can be provided, the proposition is a true proposition."

Everyone was filled with awe at Dr. Shi's reasoning. It was rare for a doctor who had graduated and started working to be able to explain these basic logic concepts so clearly. Most doctors had even forgotten what hypothetical propositions were.

"It's that complicated?" Director Meng, who was standing to the side, was a little taken aback.

He has no knowledge of A, B, or hypothetical propositions. Did he learn these things before? Or has he simply forgotten them?

"Didn't Professor Yang say that this is a logic problem? So we must analyze this problem from the perspective of logic. We must first understand the problem clearly. If we don't understand the problem clearly, we won't know where to start answering it." Dr. Shi felt that this was his chance to show his skills. He rubbed his hands together, ready to perform well.

"Xiao Shi, put aside your work. I'll arrange for someone else to take over reviewing the films for you. Focus on this question now and don't let our radiology department down." Director Meng even suspected that Professor Yang had set the question for the radiology department, and Zhang Lin was just a messenger who relayed the question.

"Do you need help?" Director Meng asked anxiously, worried that Shi Jia alone would not be able to handle the situation.

"Yi Yuexing, Ji Weihua, you two come over and help. The rest of you go and help review the footage. Don't crowd around; more people won't help. This problem requires brains." Director Meng immediately made arrangements, just like making emergency deployments in the face of a major emergency.

The two PhDs who were named were also recent graduates, young, quick-witted, and hadn't forgotten the knowledge they learned in school. Only people like them are suitable to answer this logic question.

Xiao Wu and Zhang Lin never expected that Director Meng would treat this issue as a major crisis and attach such importance to it.