After being fired, I became the light of medicine

Chapter 179 What is the reason for the sudden increase in lung nodules?

"Old Zhang, old Zhang, good news, good news!"

"?What good news?"

"Didn't your company's physical examination in the past two years show that you have several ground-glass nodules in your lungs? We have seen several doctors and none of them gave us an accurate answer. They all asked you to have follow-up visits every year."

"Aren't you worried about lung cancer? I just saw on the news that Qingshan Pharmaceutical has developed a drug that can identify whether lung nodules are benign or malignant. You can tell after a CT scan after the injection!"

"Clinical trials are currently underway and patients are being recruited. Do you think we should participate?"

"Ah?! Qingshan Pharmaceutical!"

“Can you tell whether a lung nodule is conscientious or malignant?!”

Old Zhang was obviously stunned for a moment, but after a moment his expression turned happy and excited!
"Hey hey, what are you waiting for? Wife, where are they conducting the clinical trial?!"

"Oh, forget it, I'll go to Qingshan Pharmaceutical's official website to check out the official news!"

……

On the other side, in a university girls dormitory.

"Xiao Min, Director Dai's outpatient clinic is releasing appointments today. Have you grabbed one?"

"Ah! No! Dai Shen's account is too hard to get. It was sold out in less than five seconds after it came out. I've been trying to get one for three weeks and I haven't gotten one once. It's too hard!"

"It's indeed difficult, but Xiao Min, don't be too anxious. If you can't get one, forget it. Didn't the doctor tell you to follow up first and take a CT scan in half a year before you can see again?"

"No, no! I have to let Dai Shen personally help me check the results before I can feel at ease! Oh, I just don't know why it's so difficult to make an appointment for so many people with lung nodules!"

"By the way, Xiaolin, why do you suddenly care about this?"

"Oh, it's like this. I just read the news and found that a pharmaceutical company called Qingshan Pharmaceutical seems to have developed a drug that can identify the nature of lung nodules. The main principle is to identify lung cancer markers by injecting contrast agents..."

"We are currently recruiting subjects with multiple lung nodules, and each of them will receive a subsidy of 500 yuan...Everyone is talking about it online now!"

"I think since you are so anxious and can't get an appointment, you might as well give it a try!"

The girl named Xiao Min was stunned for a moment, and then she quickly reacted the next second:
“Qingshan Pharmaceutical has developed a contrast agent that can identify lung nodules?!”

"Quick, show me the news, where is it?!"

……

Beijing Union Medical College Hospital.

Peking Union Medical College is the top comprehensive hospital in China, without a doubt, and most of the patients who come to see it have complicated and difficult illnesses.

Director Qiao’s outpatient appointment numbers for one day a week are snapped up instantly as soon as they are released. All patients are looking forward to receiving personal diagnosis and treatment from the country’s top director of thoracic surgery.

In the outpatient department, Director Qiao frowned slightly. The condition of the patient in front of him was a bit tricky.

"Mr. Cao, right? You guys have come to Union Hospital after so many twists and turns. So I'll just be frank with you!"

"You have already undergone a lung nodule removal surgery, and currently you only have less than two-thirds of your lung tissue left;
If another part of the lung tissue is removed, your lung function will definitely be seriously affected in the future, and may even cause complications such as emphysema and pleural effusion!"

"You have to think carefully."

The patient, Lao Cao, nodded and sighed:
"Director Qiao, there's nothing we can do. You see, I just had lung nodule surgery two years ago, and now I have several more nodules on my lungs. Several doctors have said they might be malignant, and they all suggested that I have them removed as soon as possible."

"I am in a dilemma now, whether I cut it or not!"

Director Qiao pushed up the frame of his glasses.

Indeed, patients who have undergone lung surgery and have impaired lung function are in great trouble.

cut,
Lung function will be damaged again, and if the result is benign, it will be even more heartbreaking!

Not cutting!

If it really is lung cancer, then there will be no chance to regret!

and so.

For patients who have already undergone lung surgery, it is very difficult to decide whether to undergo lung nodule surgery.

"Mr. Cao, if it were before, I would have suggested that you cut it just to be on the safe side."

"but……"

As he spoke, Director Qiao took out a piece of promotional material from the drawer and handed it to Lao Cao.

"But now there is a new technology. Our domestic company Qingshan Pharmaceutical has developed a drug that can identify the nature of lung nodules. You only need to do a CT scan to know which of your nodules are malignant and which are benign!"

"This is very important to you. Your lungs cannot afford even the slightest mistake!"

Lao Cao was also confused. He took a look at the information in his hand and didn't react for a while.

"Director Qiao... Are you saying that there is a drug that can identify whether my lung nodules are lung cancer?"

"Ah."

Director Qiao continued:
"They are currently conducting clinical trials and recruiting patients. Take this brochure to the Third People's Hospital of Chengdu, and they will arrange for you to join the trial as soon as possible!"

"If the CT scan shows that the tumor is malignant, come back to me and I will perform surgery on you!"

Lao Cao finally reacted and nodded repeatedly.

But when he stood up, he suddenly realized a problem:
"Director Qiao, excuse me, why can't we take this CT scan at Union Hospital?"

Director Qiao was stunned for a moment, then smiled and said:
"Because this recognition technology requires a specially matched CT machine, there is only one in the whole country, the Third People's Hospital of Chengdu. Anyone who wants to take a CT scan for recognition has to go to the Third People's Hospital of Chengdu!"

"But don't worry, our Union Medical College is already preparing to cooperate with Qingshan Pharmaceutical, and we will soon introduce this CT machine!"

"Oh, okay, thank you Director Qiao!"

Just the day after Dr. Zhang completed the operation, Qingshan Pharmaceutical's "Nano-nodule Contrast Agent" also obtained approval for clinical trials.

Zhang Yang did not hesitate and immediately announced the news that Tsingshan Pharmaceutical had developed the "nano-nodule contrast agent" and began recruiting subjects for the Phase II clinical trial.

For a time, countless patients suffering from lung nodules were surprised and delighted, and cheered;
Even doctors in major hospitals noticed it immediately and began to seriously understand this "nano-nodule contrast agent".

You know, the nature of lung nodules has always troubled the entire thoracic surgery academic community, and there is no medical method that can be 100% sure of the nature of a certain nodule.

In addition, there are only a few top doctors like Director Hao, Director Qiao, and Director Dai in the whole country. Most patients and ordinary people still encounter ordinary thoracic surgeons in major hospitals.

Due to factors such as their own professional abilities, doctor-patient relationships, and fear of responsibility, most doctors often give ambiguous answers, which makes patients even more worried and anxious.

Every year, many lung nodules are misdiagnosed and removed because of the fear that they might be lung cancer!

And now!
Tsingshan Pharmaceutical's "nano-nodule contrast agent" not only greatly reduces the pressure on doctors to make judgments, but is also a huge boon for patients.

So after the official announcement, countless patients signed up enthusiastically on the same day. Even some patients from far away coastal cities came from afar just to participate in the clinical trial of the "nodule contrast agent"!

Fortunately, the number of people recruited for the second phase of the clinical trial of "Nano Nodule Contrast Agent" is also large enough! Compared with the conventional clinical trials of new drugs, which often require long-term medication trials of up to three months to six months, "Nano Nodule Contrast Agent" is a one-time drug and only requires one test.

Therefore, the State Food and Drug Administration has significantly increased the number of subjects required for the Phase II clinical trial of the "nodule contrast agent". The number of subjects that need to be recruited in the Phase II clinical trial alone has reached 300!
Zhang Yang also agrees with this clinical trial plan.

However, on the day the clinical trial started, he noticed that there was a rigid requirement in the Phase II clinical trial plan, which was the need to verify the accuracy of the "nano-nodule contrast agent".

In other words, after the "nano-nodule developer" determines that a patient has a malignant nodule, the patient's post-operative data must also be provided, that is, the gross pathology removed, so that all the data of the subject forms a complete closed loop.

It is obviously impossible for patients with benign lung nodules to undergo surgery. As a last resort, Zhang Yang can only require that the subjects participating in the clinical trial should be selected as patients with "high-risk lung nodules" as much as possible.

However, this requires screening of the applicants' CT images, which requires specialized doctors with clinical experience to conduct the screening.

Qingshan Pharmaceutical obviously did not have a qualified thoracic surgeon to complete this task, so it had to turn to President Zhou for help.

In the director's office of Chengdu Third People's Hospital.

Director Hao and Director Qi flew back to Beijing after performing the surgery on Dr. Zhang. Only Director Dai planned to return to Shancheng tomorrow because Shancheng was close.

The three of them sat in the office. Zhang Yang looked at Dean Zhou and said bluntly:

"Director Zhou, you already know the situation. If we want to quickly complete the clinical trial of the 'nodule contrast agent', we must try to select patients with malignant nodules to participate in the clinical trial first!"

"We at Qingshan Pharmaceutical definitely don't have such experienced doctors. You have to ask the doctors in the thoracic surgery department to help us select suitable subjects!"

Dean Zhou agreed immediately.

"no problem!"

But just as he finished speaking, Dean Zhou continued:

"But Zhang Yang, I have no problem helping you. But to be honest, thoracic surgery is not our hospital's strong department. The level of our director Liu is..."

As he spoke, Dean Zhou lowered his voice and smiled bitterly:
"Director Liu of our department is only average in judging lung nodules. Do you remember Feng Gang's case?"

"Feng Gang just had surgery for nothing because of Director Liu's misdiagnosis, so I can't guarantee how many real malignant nodules I can screen out. You have to be mentally prepared, otherwise don't say I cheated you."

Zhang Yang was slightly stunned, and suddenly he remembered Feng Gang who was previously misdiagnosed as having carcinoma in situ. In this case, Director Liu was indeed a bit unreliable.

However, the clinical trial of the "nodule contrast agent" is currently being carried out in Chengdu Third People's Hospital, and it can only rely on the help of Director Liu and others in the department.

Thinking of this, Zhang Yang couldn't help but smile bitterly:

"Director Zhou, I understand, but there's nothing we can do about it. Besides, even if Director Liu is unreliable, he's still more reliable than us, right?"

"That's right! Okay, then I'll arrange for Director Liu to work with you."

"OK, all right."

Zhang Yang and Dean Zhou were talking quickly.

Dean Zhou was also impatient, and he was about to call Director Liu to arrange the work, but when he took out his phone, Director Dai, who had been silent, suddenly spoke up:

"Director Zhou, Mr. Zhang, if you don't mind, I can help you screen the CT images of the subjects. I think I have some confidence in judging malignant nodules!"

"you?!"

Dean Zhou stopped what he was doing and looked at Director Dai in surprise.

Zhang Yang standing by also looked a little surprised.

Of course, he hoped that Director Dai could help. If there could be a top doctor like Director Dai in charge of the initial screening, there would be no doubt that at least 300 out of the 290 subjects would have malignant nodules, which means that at least 290 points of complete closed-loop data could be provided!

This will undoubtedly greatly speed up the clinical approval of "nano-nodule contrast agents"!

only!

He was surprised and said:

"Director Dai, aren't you going back tomorrow?"

"Besides, you are the head of the department at Xinqiao Hospital. If you are away for a long time..."

Director Dai waved his hand and said with a smile:
"It's okay. I can ask the hospital for a few days off. Two to three days should be enough to screen out 300 patients with malignant nodules for you!"

"To be honest, I am also very interested in your accuracy. I also want to know how big the gap is between my experience and judgment accumulated over the years and your developer!"

"Besides, being able to screen 300 CT images of malignant nodules at a time is exciting to me!"

excited?

Zhang Yang was stunned for a moment. From just a few words, he truly felt Director Dai's passion for lung nodule research.

"As expected of the man called 'Dai Shen' by netizens!"

"Besides professionalism, it is more about true passion!"

Thinking of this, Zhang Yang sighed:

"Okay, thank you for your help, Director Dai!"

"No trouble!"

……

Director Dai’s unexpected joining has undoubtedly accelerated the recruitment progress of “nodule contrast agent”!

In just five days, Director Dai selected 800 patients suspected of having "high-risk lung nodules" from more than 300 patients with lung nodules.

After the inclusion in the group is confirmed, the next step is a CT scan. If it is confirmed to be a malignant nodule, the doctor will recommend surgery as soon as possible. At the same time, the postoperative pathology will also be used as the clinical data of the "converter".

Director Dai was naturally not needed for the surgery and follow-up work. After helping with screening at Chengdu Third People's Hospital for five days, Director Dai was ready to return to the mountain city to start work.

The day before leaving, Zhang Yang specially invited Dai Shen to have dinner together. After eating and drinking, the topic of their conversation unknowingly returned to lung nodules.

"Mr. Zhang, to be honest, judging from the CT test data and surgical data from the past five days, the accuracy of your company's 'Nano-nodule Contrast Agent' is beyond my imagination and far beyond our subjective judgment!"

"This is the power of technology! I estimate that once this drug is on the market, the number of patients who come to my clinic to diagnose lung nodules will be reduced by at least two-thirds!"

Zhang Yang couldn't help but smile bitterly:
"Director Dai, won't you blame us? Because our presence can be said to have affected your...signature?"

"After all, your nickname on the Internet is 'Dai Shen'! Everyone recognizes your ability to identify lung nodules!"

"What kind of god is this? It's just the patient's favor!"

As he spoke, Director Dai suddenly shook his head, with some emotion:

"I don't know what's going on. In the past two years, especially after the pneumonia outbreak, more and more people have been suffering from lung nodules. I really don't want to see this happen!"

"Moreover, according to this year's statistics, the incidence of lung cancer has increased by 5% again, especially lung adenocarcinoma, which has increased from 2018% in 40 to 50%!"

"In just a few years, the overall incidence of lung cancer has increased, and lung adenocarcinoma has increased by 10%. This is so strange!"

(End of this chapter)