In the sterile operating room, Thompson and a group of assistants wore disposable surgical gowns and stood under the shadowless lamp.
The central position they were surrounding was Luo Jincheng, who had been in a coma for a long time. After Zhang Heng escaped from danger, he was completely in a vegetative state. At this time, his body was already emaciated, his body was emaciated, and there was saliva at the corner of his mouth from time to time. It flowed out, and now after taking an anesthetic, he has fallen into a deep sleep.
At this time, he was lying on an operating table, his whole body was fixed, and his head was held in mid-air by an alloy frame used in brain replacement surgery.
There was a solemn atmosphere in the entire operating room. The automated surgical machine was pushed in. One of the assistants calmly sterilized the surgical equipment, while other assistants prepared brain culture medium and inspected it. All utensils and medicines that may be needed.
And all of this is clearly displayed on the high-definition cameras in the four corners of the operating room.
At this moment, Zhang Heng was sitting in front of the screen, watching everything in the operating room. Seeing that everyone was almost ready, he asked into the microphone, "Professor Thompson, what is the chance of success for this operation?"
"Less than 10%." Thompson looked calm. As the chief surgeon, he sat on the rest chair to recuperate from the beginning of preparation. This was a long battle. At this time, when he heard Zhang Heng's question from the loudspeaker, he immediately spoke.
"Judging from his CT images, his brain damage is more serious than I expected. It's better not to have too much hope."
Zhang Heng was immediately speechless, "Is it so serious?" Although he was mentally prepared, the seriousness of Luo Jincheng's condition still exceeded his imagination.
"A person has approximately tens of billions of brain cells, each brain cell has approximately hundreds of cranial nerves, each nerve has approximately hundreds of synapses, and each synapse has hundreds to thousands of proteins." Thompson explained lightly, "The function of a brain cell is approximately equivalent to a large computer, and the function of a synapse is approximately equivalent to a chip of a computer. It can be easily calculated that the human brain is equivalent to hundreds of billions or more. Trillions of chips, and this patient’s brain cells were damaged by more than 30%, which is equivalent to a computer burning tens of billions of chips. Do you think it’s serious?”
"Isn't it said that the human brain is highly adaptable?" Zhang Heng frowned, "Some people survived even though half of their brains were removed due to epilepsy."
"Yes, the human brain is indeed very adaptable," Thompson nodded and sighed, "1,000 nerve cells in the human brain are damaged every hour, and nearly 9 million nerves lose their function within a year, but even so, The main reason why the brain can still work normally is that the brain has enough backup power, but now that his brain is damaged, even the backup power is damaged. "
Zhang Heng was completely speechless. He thought for a while, "Is there a way to stimulate the brain's potential? Can it repair the damage to the brain and restore it to its previous state?"
"It's impossible, even the T virus can't do this." Thompson shook his head, "The brain injury is not irreversible, but at least two elements are needed. One is that the injury can be controlled, and the other is that the brain must be damaged as soon as possible. Cells will die irreversibly if they are deprived of oxygen for 6 minutes. Once the damage is too severe, even surgical equipment cannot do what God cannot do. "
At this time, a skilled assistant shaved off all of Luo Jincheng's hair, disinfected it with alcohol, and covered it with a surgical cloth, exposing only Luo Jincheng's Tianling Cap. Then he began to carefully draw dotted lines on Luo Jincheng's bare head. This operation required opening Luo Jincheng's entire skull to expose the entire brain.
"Professor Thompson, the intravenous access has been established and we are ready." an assistant reported.
"Okay, get ready for the craniotomy." Thompson nodded and stood up. At this time, the automated surgical equipment had been set up on Luo Jincheng's bare head. Thompson walked behind the equipment and ordered the scan. Brain commands.
Suddenly, a lot of robotic arms began to swing on their own. Those robotic arms actively monitored Luo Jincheng's head, and then 'saw' the dotted line drawn by the assistant. After several confirmations, a dark blue laser flashed from one of the The mechanical arm suddenly popped out, and with a quick stroke along the dotted line, it was completely extinguished in an instant!
"Tsk..."
Blue smoke rose into the sky, and the operating room was filled with the smell of barbecue, but everyone looked normal. One of the assistants carefully inserted a tool into the scalp that had been cut by the laser, and gently lifted it up. Suddenly, Luo Jincheng's skull was completely opened, revealing the pink meninges.
Then, the assistant stepped back, and the other assistant quickly stepped forward and clamped disposable hemostats on the scalp incisions. Although the wounds were burnt, there was no guarantee that blood would not flow out and flow into the cranial cavity.
Then, the automated surgical equipment became active again and removed that layer of meninges. At this time, the cerebral cortex was completely exposed to everyone.
Next, we rely on automatic surgical equipment. Rows of scanning lasers are fired up to repair the damaged areas of the brain. The broken nerve bundles and blood vessels, as well as some blood clots and cysts, all need to be cleaned. Some necrotic areas that are too damaged may even need to be removed.
"Pay attention to the patient's blood pressure and don't blindly trust the surgical equipment. When I was doing experiments, the surgical equipment once caused massive bleeding in the experimental subjects. Therefore, even surgical equipment may have errors."
"The patient's brain waves are increasing. Is the effect of the anesthetic reduced? If I continue to increase the injection dose, I don't want the patient to wake up during the operation."
Thompson and his assistants began to get busy. This kind of brain repair surgery is basically impossible in reality. Even hundreds of people can't do it. But now, with the help of automated surgical instruments, brain repair has become possible. Although The success rate is still not high, but it is always much better than not being successful at all.
This operation is planned to last for dozens of hours, during which Luo Jincheng's brain will be immersed in brain culture medium. Some areas that are too complicated will require Thompson to handle them. His role is to handle some continuous operations. Emergency situations that even automated surgical equipment cannot handle. As the first scientist to use automated surgical equipment, he has accumulated extremely rich experience...