After Jin Yu called Qin Donglai, Qin Donglai immediately summoned Wu Ting and relayed Jin Yu’s request.
"Wu Ting, your reputation is really starting to spread. To think even the Director of the Emergency Department at Bei City First People’s Hospital has heard of you."
Qin Donglai sounded quite proud. After he’d sent Wu Ting’s surgical video to Jin Yu, he hadn’t expected to get an opportunity for a surgical consultation so quickly.
"Director Jin is very impressed with your skills in tendon suturing. His hospital has admitted a patient with a ruptured Achilles tendon, and he wants to invite you over for a joint consultation to formulate a surgical plan. Are you interested?"
Qin Donglai’s tone was coaxing. This was all part of his plan, after all. By promoting Wu Ting to more hospitals, their partnership—a community of shared interests—would allow him to earn more from freelance surgery fees.
Qin Donglai was now rethinking his relationship with Wu Ting. He planned to position himself as Wu Ting’s agent, responsible for finding him gigs. Wu Ting, in turn, would be the star physician he was packaging, sent to various hospitals in Fan City to make a name for himself.
Qin Donglai had originally planned to go along, but he had a surgery of his own that afternoon. Although he frequently performed freelance surgeries to earn extra money, that was always on the condition that he first fulfilled his duties at his own hospital.
"However, you’ll have to go alone this time. I have a surgery this afternoon. But don’t be nervous. Director Jin is inviting you over mainly to participate in the consultation. It’s not even certain if you’ll be the one operating. Apparently, the patient’s family has some connections, so they’ll most likely invite a few nationally renowned surgeons to consult as well."
Qin Donglai was saying this to relieve Wu Ting’s stress. After all, this was Wu Ting’s first time performing a freelance surgery alone.
"Participating in a consultation like this is an excellent opportunity for professional exchange and learning."
When he heard he might meet some of the country’s most renowned doctors at the consultation, Wu Ting was thrilled. ’If I can get a new skill entry out of this, I’ll have hit the jackpot.’
For Wu Ting, the more impressive the attending experts, the better. ’Sure, I have few rivals when it comes to tendon repair, but I’m still a specialist who’s only good at one thing,’ he thought. ’Those famous masters are all incredibly versatile. I’d be happy if I could just pick up a single one of their skills.’
"Dr. Qin, it would be my honor. I’ll get ready and head over right away."
Qin Donglai thought for a moment, then pulled a set of keys from his pocket. "Take my car. Bei City First People’s Hospital is quite a drive, and getting a taxi won’t be easy."
"I’ll text you Director Jin’s contact information in a bit. Just call him directly when you arrive."
"Alright."
After taking the car keys from Qin Donglai, Wu Ting immediately departed for Bei City First People’s Hospital.
Some fifty minutes later, Wu Ting arrived at Bei City First People’s Hospital, where Director Jin came out to greet him personally.
Seeing Wu Ting, Jin Yu was still a bit surprised. Wu Ting looked far too young. If he hadn’t personally seen the video of Wu Ting’s surgery, he wouldn’t have given such a young doctor a second glance.
"I didn’t expect Dr. Wu to be so young and promising."
Looking at the handsome and dashing Wu Ting, Director Jin was full of enthusiasm. Inviting Wu Ting over was also a way to burnish his own reputation, and he was truly looking forward to Wu Ting’s performance.
"You’re too kind, Director Jin. Dr. Qin mentions you often, so I’ve long heard of your esteemed reputation. It’s my honor to participate in this consultation at Bei City First People’s Hospital."
Wu Ting responded with humility.
The two exchanged a few more pleasantries before Director Jin led Wu Ting to a ward in the emergency department.
"Dr. Wu, I’m a pretty direct person, so let’s get right to it. We’ll examine the patient’s condition, you can formulate a surgical treatment plan, and then we’ll discuss it in the conference room."
Director Jin called over the resident in charge of the patient and handed all of the patient’s prior examination data to Wu Ting.
The resident was puzzled when he saw Director Jin bring in such a young doctor. But in the emergency department, Jin Yu was the absolute ruler; how could a lowly resident dare to question his decisions?
Wu Ting examined the patient’s file. With his current Grandmaster (Black) level skill in tendon suturing, he immediately conceived of a surgical plan designed specifically for this patient.
"Director Jin, it was definitely necessary to have me consult on this. The patient is currently within the golden window for repair. Based on their present condition, I recommend proceeding with Achilles tendon repair surgery immediately."
"Although the gap at the rupture is less than 1 cm and located in the mid-portion of the tendon, which means conservative treatment is an option, the patient is experiencing localized pain, swelling, and bleeding. Conservative treatment carries the risk of many long-term side effects. Therefore, I recommend immediate surgical treatment."
"With the Achilles tendon repair plan I’ve designed specifically for this patient, they will experience better functional recovery, a shorter rehabilitation period, and we can prevent a secondary rupture of the tendon."
When it came to his profession, Wu Ting was decisive, presenting his ideas with unwavering confidence.
Jin Yu had only intended for Wu Ting to participate in the consultation; he hadn’t expected him to have a complete surgical plan formulated with such confidence.
"Dr. Wu, could you elaborate?"
Jin Yu recalled Wu Ting’s limb replantation surgery, which had been highly praised by even Professor Shen Guofeng of the Jinggang University Affiliated First Hospital’s emergency department. Therefore, he decided to listen to Wu Ting’s treatment plan with an open mind before making a decision.
The resident to the side was stunned. ’This young man has such a sharp demeanor and a powerful presence. Could he be an expert from one of the country’s top hospitals?’
’But he’s just so young.’
"I plan to perform a modified Krackow suture reinforced with the plantaris tendon to treat the acute Achilles tendon rupture."
Director Jin was surprised to hear Wu Ting’s approach.
"You’re saying you’d reinforce it with the plantaris tendon?"
This was the first time he had ever heard of such an Achilles tendon repair method.
"As we all know, conventional Achilles tendon suturing has its shortcomings, especially when it comes to withstanding tensile forces. Typical suturing methods can easily lead to a secondary rupture."
"Therefore, I plan to reinforce the repair by using the Krackow suture technique. This method forms multiple suture loops, which greatly increases its resistance to tensile forces."
"On top of that, I will suture the plantaris tendon over the repair to further increase its strength. The plantaris muscle itself is a vestigial, degenerated muscle with no biological function. Using it to reinforce the suture in an acute Achilles tendon rupture causes minimal damage to surrounding healthy tissue and has no impact on the patient’s overall function."
"Furthermore, the plantaris tendon is located medial to the Achilles tendon and inserts on the medial border of the calcaneus. It can provide substantial tensile support and readily fuses with the Achilles tendon as it heals, giving it an innate advantage that other autologous tendons or aponeuroses lack!"
Once Wu Ting finished his analysis, Jin Yu understood the ingenuity of this Surgical Technique.
"I just have one question. The Krackow suture has obvious pros and cons. While it does increase strength, doesn’t it cause more damage to the tendon fibers by creating multiple suture loops? Could that lead to excessive scar tissue formation after the surgery?"
Director Jin clearly had a solid theoretical knowledge of tendon suturing.
Wu Ting smiled confidently.
"That depends on who’s performing the surgery. With the exact same tendon repair operation, a junior physician might cause poor incision healing, infection, or even nerve damage, whereas a senior physician would rarely encounter such issues. An average doctor might run into trouble with the Krackow suture, but when I’m the one operating, that won’t be a problem."
With such skill at his command, Wu Ting’s words were backed by unshakeable confidence.
A smile spread across Jin Yu’s face as he heard Wu Ting’s confident assertion.
"Understood. I’ll go speak with the patient and their family about the pre-operative details now."
Jin Yu sighed to himself. ’It’s true. The skill level of the doctors at Bei City First People’s Hospital is just too low. Even if Wu Ting designed such a brilliant surgical plan, no one here would be able to perform it successfully.’
This was only normal, though. Achilles tendon rupture surgery was expensive and technically demanding, with a long learning curve. Bei City First People’s Hospital simply didn’t have sufficient patient volume or the medical personnel to cultivate such skills.
This was a common problem for many highly difficult Surgical Techniques. They were hard to popularize and were generally mastered by only a handful of surgical experts at top-tier hospitals.
’He just never expected that someone as young as Wu Ting would have already mastered such a skill.’