After being separated from my family, I became a darling of the military region thanks to my medical

Ye Zhen wasn't idle. While waiting for the pericardium to be tanned, she began treating the ventricular septal defect.

The synthetic polyester patch was trimmed into the appropriate shape. Ye Zhen picked up the double-ended thread with pads and began stitching at the lower back edge of the defect.

"Parachute-style continuous suturing technique." Gao Haiping sat on a stool, quickly taking notes in his notebook. "It abandons interrupted mattress suturing and greatly shortens the time for extracorporeal circulation."

Ye Zhen's hands worked deep inside, and the extremely low friction of the polypropylene sutures allowed her to tighten multiple stitches evenly in one go. The patch was perfectly attached to the ventricular septum, completely isolating the straddling aorta on the left ventricular side.

Ten minutes later. The nurse repeatedly flushed the pericardium with large amounts of saline solution.

The tanned pericardium not only loses its immunogenicity but also has significantly improved mechanical strength and excellent toughness. This is truly a priceless treasure that Ye Zhen left to the domestic medical community.

She picked up the scissors and trimmed the tanned pericardium slices into a teardrop shape that was narrow at both ends and wide in the middle.

Here comes the main event: transvalvular right ventricular outflow tract reconstruction.

This patch needs to be sutured from the main pulmonary artery all the way to the lower end of the right ventricular incision. This is the area with the greatest tension and the highest risk of tearing and bleeding during the entire surgery.

Ye Zhen held the needle and began inserting it into the fragile pulmonary artery wall, starting from the very top of the patch.

Her technique completely abandoned the traditional knotting method used in China. The thread moved nimbly in her hands, with each stitch strictly controlled to a distance of two millimeters at the edge and a stitch length of three millimeters. The sutures tightly gripped the tissue and the edge of the patch.

Liu Jianmin stood up, even leaning forward slightly, disregarding the rules. He couldn't believe someone's hands could be so steady. A cut over ten centimeters long, a single, continuous line all the way through, without any pause or repositioning in between.

Half an hour later, the last stitch was tied and the thread was pulled in.

The originally narrow and closed outflow tract was perfectly supported by this autologous pericardial patch, creating a wide channel, like a raised tunnel.

"exhaust."

The needle is inserted into the ascending aorta to expel any remaining air from the heart chambers.

"Open aortic clamp".

The moment the hemostat was released, crimson blood surged into the coronary artery. The heart, which had been still for nearly an hour, began to show slight pulsation under the operating lights.

Those few seconds felt like an eternity to everyone present. If the muscle removal damaged the conduction tract, the heart would not be able to beat.

"Beep!" The electrocardiogram monitor emitted a long beep.

A jumbled waveform swept across the screen, followed by premature ventricular contractions. Immediately afterward, the heart muscle contracted violently.

Thump. Thump.

Automaticity is restored. The right ventricle expands and contracts powerfully, pumping dark red venous blood through the newly reconstructed, wide outflow tract into the lungs.

There was no bleeding!

"Resuscitation successful! Sinus rhythm!" Dr. Zhang, the head of the anesthesiology department, croaked with excitement.

"Blood pressure 100/65! Blood oxygen saturation 99%!"

Ninety-nine percent! This number struck the ears of every senior expert in the back row like a thunderbolt from a clear sky. Five hours ago, the child, with dark purple lips and on the verge of death, now had all his hemodynamic indicators completely restored to normal levels.

Gao Haiping's hand, gripping his cane, bulged with veins. This was not just a surgery; it was a battle for supremacy for the Chinese medical community! This mature, clinically validated modified surgical technique would completely end the West's dominance in this field.

"Stop the machine. Remove the cannula. Neutralize the heparin."

Ye Zhen methodically issued the finishing instructions. She personally placed the closed thoracic drainage tube, fixed the sternum with wire, and sutured the subcutaneous tissue and skin layer by layer.

When the last suture was cut, the clock on the operating room wall stopped at 2:15 a.m.

Ye Zhen took a half step back, and the nurse stepped forward to take over the patient's care.

She let out a long sigh of relief and walked to a corner to take off her blood-stained sterile surgical gown. The intense focus had exhausted almost all of her strength; the scrubs on her back were already soaked with sweat and clung tightly to her spine.

The sensor doors of operating room number one slid open to both sides.

The corridor outside the door wasn't empty. Dean Zhou Hai, wrapped in a military overcoat, stood by the window near the draft with a provincial newspaper reporter carrying a camera. On the waiting chairs for families against the wall, the father of a sick child was huddled up, his head buried tightly in his rough hands. Only Gu Zheng sat on the wooden chair facing the door, his leather jacket undone.

Upon hearing the door open, the child's father sprang to his feet as if electrocuted, his knees buckled, and he scrambled to the door. Zhou Hai and the reporter quickly gathered around.

"Doctor! My little baby..." The man's tears blurred his weathered face, and his voice was hoarse.

Ye Zhen took off her sweat-dampened bowler hat, her gaze falling on the man's trembling legs: "His life has been saved. The surgery went smoothly. Let's go see him outside the ICU."

The man opened his mouth but couldn't make a sound. He bent his knees and was about to smash to the ground when a pair of strong arms caught him from the side.

Gu Zheng supported the child's father with one hand, then gestured with his chin to the nurses who were walking by, indicating that they should take the family member away. Dean Zhou Hai stood by, excitedly rubbing his hands together. Reporters raised their cameras, and flashes of light pierced the corridor. Gu Zheng strode over to Ye Zhen.

Before Gu Zheng could speak, a series of rapid footsteps came from behind him.

More than 20 senior experts, including Gao Haiping and Liu Jianmin, blocked the operating room door completely.

Gao Haiping walked at the front, his hands tightly clutching the hardcover notebook filled with dense data and hand-drawn diagrams. His eyes were bloodshot from lack of sleep, yet surprisingly bright.

"Dr. Ye." Gao Haiping didn't address her as Xiao Ye, but used an extremely formal and respectful term.

He held up his notebook, his voice ringing out in the late-night corridor: "All the first-hand clinical data is complete. Suspend my outpatient clinic for the next two weeks. Even if I, Gao Haiping, don't eat or sleep, I will have the manuscript of this internationally groundbreaking medical paper on your desk within three days!" In the corridor, Liu Jianmin and others echoed his agreement, the atmosphere electric. Dozens of leading figures in the domestic medical field looked at Ye Zhen with awe and reverence.

Looking at the bloodshot eyes of the senior experts before her, Ye Zhen's usually cool voice softened with a touch of humanity: "Vice Dean Gao, thank you for your help with the paper. But right now, the 24-hour post-operative intensive care is equally important. The child is not yet out of danger, so all of you directors, go back to sleep. We have a joint ward round tomorrow."

The crowd dispersed in response.

The corridor returned to quiet, and Zhou Hai pulled the reporter aside to check tomorrow's press release. Gu Zheng took off the leather jacket that had been soaked with his body heat and draped it over Ye Zhen's thin shoulders. He didn't say a word more, but leaned down, his strong arms passing under the woman's knees and back, steadily lifting her up.

Ye Zhen did not resist. Several hours of intense mental and physical exertion had left her legs aching and numb. She obediently leaned against the man's broad, muscular chest, listening to his steady, powerful heartbeat through the thin shirt.

"Go to sleep." Gu Zheng lowered his head and rubbed his chin against the top of her head.