This doctor has a system

Chapter 617, Page 679: Retraction
“Several patients experienced acute kidney damage after using it,” Director Hu said. “I always felt it was related to this drug.”

However, he did not have any substantial evidence.

Over the next few days, Gao Feng contacted several anesthesiologists and intensive care doctors, most of whom said they could not comment on the drug.

"I don't use it much, and I haven't paid much attention to this drug."

"It's hard to say about the results. They should be similar to other products, right?"

"Isn't this recommended by the guide? I've been using it according to the guide, so it shouldn't be wrong, right?"

A small number of medical staff, however, expressed their views clearly.

"I don't find it very useful. Sometimes it causes allergic reactions, and it's not good for patients with kidney damage," said a doctor in the general ICU.

“Indeed, using a crystalloid as a resuscitation option significantly reduces the risk of kidney damage,” another doctor agreed.

Gao Feng had a preliminary answer in his mind: perhaps hydroxyethyl starch could be used for fluid resuscitation, but it was definitely not as flawless as Professor Boldt described in his article.

However, in order to make his next statement more convincing, he decided to collect some data.

"Does this mean we need to recall all patients who have used hydroxyethyl starch in the past 5 years?" Tong Zhanyong from the pharmacy department asked.

"Yes, is it troublesome?"

"What's the trouble?" Section Chief Tong said. "I'll give you the data tomorrow."

A pharmacist surnamed Yue standing nearby sensed something was wrong. Statistics for the past two years were easy to compile, but those from before were much more difficult.

"Director, we've already switched systems once," he said tactfully. "It seems like accessing this data is quite troublesome; it requires special permissions, and that machine was incredibly slow."

"Try to overcome it," Director Tong said.

"Damn it, you big idiot!" the pharmacist surnamed Yue cursed inwardly.

But he submitted the data on time the next day. Sure enough, the potential of cattle and horses is limitless; the more they are whipped, the faster they run.

"Thank you for your hard work, Director Tong," Gao Feng said.

"These are nothing, please don't hesitate to ask if you need anything in the future," Director Tong said with a smile.

Gao Feng returned to his department immediately after obtaining the data.

Each department has its own "oxen and horses" (a metaphor for powerful, capable workers). Gao Feng is the director of two departments, so he has even more "oxen and horses" under his command, all of which are nuclear-powered.

"Youliang, please distribute this data to everyone and see if we can do a rough statistical analysis within the next two days."

The first step is to screen this data, because some patients who use hydroxyethyl starch may not necessarily be in need of fluid resuscitation.

In addition, if some patients already had kidney damage before using this drug, then these patients also need to be excluded.

What Gao Feng wanted to investigate was the probability of kidney damage among patients who underwent fluid resuscitation using hydroxyethyl starch.
Of course, due to the limited sample size, this result may not be entirely accurate, but it still illustrates some points.

Three days passed quickly, and Gao Feng frowned deeply as he looked at the statistics on the paper.

Compared with resuscitation using crystalloid solutions, patients using hydroxyethyl starch have a significantly higher probability of developing kidney damage.

This result is statistically significant.

After thinking for a moment, Gao Feng turned on his computer, found the email address of Anesthesia & Analgesia magazine, and expressed his confusion and doubts.

Two days later, the magazine on the other side of the ocean saw his letter.

Editor-in-Chief Emil Nicholson was sitting leisurely by the window, holding a cup of hot coffee. The pine trees downstairs swayed gently in the wind, and a woman in a red dress stood next to the trees.

Emil's memory wasn't very good, but when he saw the woman in the red dress, her information naturally came to mind: Evelyn Lyman, a new intern at the magazine, 177cm tall, with a bust size of at least 36D.

A very ambitious young man.

Thinking of this, Emil felt a pang of regret. He was getting old, and his heart wasn't in good shape. Most of the time, he felt powerless to help these energetic young people. Just then, a subordinate knocked and entered.

"Here's what happened. I received an email from a Chinese scholar who questioned the authenticity of the data in an article."

Upon hearing his subordinate's report, Emil frowned and placed his coffee on the table.

"Which article?" he asked.

"It's Professor Boldt's article, titled: The Effect of Human Serum Albumin Solution on Functional Effects of Hydroxyethyl Starch."

"what?"

Emil looked somewhat surprised; someone actually dared to question Professor Boldt's article.

"Yes, he said the data in Professor Boldt's article was too perfect and that it was fabricated."

Emil's expression turned very serious.

"By the way, you just said the letter came from a Chinese person. Is he one of our reviewers?" he asked.

“No,” the subordinate reported. “In fact, his research area doesn’t seem to be related to anesthesia resuscitation.”

"I see." Emil breathed a sigh of relief; he was probably a foreign scholar looking to gain fame.

"Editor-in-chief, I don't think so," the subordinate said cautiously. "You must know the name of this Chinese scholar, his name is Gao Feng."

Gao Feng? Emil was somewhat confused. Which Gao Feng?
"You're not talking about Professor Gao Feng from China, are you?"

"it's him."

"Give me Professor Boldt's article," Editor Emil said, getting restless.

It was soon afternoon, and the atmosphere in the conference room of the Anesthesia & Analgesia magazine was somewhat heavy.

"Let's all share our opinions," Editor-in-Chief Emil said when no one spoke.

"The data in this article is indeed problematic, and the Chinese people's doubts are reasonable," someone commented.

“That’s right, we need Professor Boldt to provide an explanation.”

“But doing so might have some negative consequences. As far as I know, Professor Boldt has a personality that he doesn’t like to be questioned,” someone worried.

Professor Boldt is highly renowned in the field of anesthesia, and if he were to publicly express his opinions, it could very likely have a negative impact on the journal.

This is exactly what Emil was worried about, and Professor Boldt has submitted many articles to their journal in the past few years.

A journal's impact factor is closely related to the identity and reputation of the contributors. Most of the time, journals are unwilling to offend these highly respected professors and scholars.

If it were a question raised by an unknown nobody, Emil, the editor, would not have paid any attention to it.

However, if the suggestion was made by Gao Feng, then the nature of the suggestion is completely different.

The fact that this Chinese scholar has been able to publish multiple articles in Nature magazine speaks volumes about his ability, and his influence is no less than that of Professor Boldt.

After discussing it for a while, the group decided to contact Professor Porter and request him to provide the original experimental data.

“I refuse!” Professor Boldt said angrily on the phone. “My research doesn’t need a Chinese person to question it.”

“I understand your anger, but Professor Boldt, there are indeed problems with the data in your published article.” Emil carefully chose his words. “I consulted several independent reviewers, and they all believe that the data is too perfect and suspected of being fabricated.”

“I will not offer any explanation,” Professor Bert said coldly. “You may retract the paper.”

Emil, the editor, was at a loss.

(End of this chapter)