Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
At any period of time, bodies that could be used for dissection were extremely scarce.
However, dissecting a body was very important to surgeons, especially during the early periods of surgery development. Most surgeons were criminals who stole corpses at that time. One of the most famous perpetrator at that time was the father of anatomy, Andreas Vesalius, who started out dissecting animals. Later on, he went to mass graves to steal corpses, before moving on to the corpses of criminals who were hanged, because they were fresh.
Not long after, when the sextons noticed what Andreas was doing, his cellar was already filled with bloody human brains, hearts, livers, spleens, limbs, and other body parts.
Later, Andreas, who got out of jail through bribery, wrote a book titled [De Humani Corporis Fabrica Libri Septem] [1]. He corrected more than three hundred errors made by Galen, who had been the person of authority at that time when it came to the human body.
The former anatomical authority Gallen did not have any corpses to dissect. So, Galen dissected monkeys to get the information.
Given that surgeons at that time operated on humans under Gallen’s theory, it could be said that surgery was the most obvious example of how much power the mind had over matter, and how easily man created new truths to believe in with each passing day.
A lot of people could have survived if the doctors had dissected corpses at that time.
Four or five hundred years had passed, and the supply of corpses in the twenty-first century was still insufficient.
For example, almost none of the medical students from China could dissect a body alone or participate in the dissection of various body parts. If they could do it once, they were already considered to have studied in a rather decent medical school, and the students would also have to be active in class to be able to dissect a corpse.
On average, only one in every ten clinicians in China could dissect one corpse throughout their career.
It was not just medical students, even doctors did not have bodies to dissect.
Most medical students had no chance of dissecting bodies once they got a position in a hospital.
This was just like how difficult it would be for a mechanic to repair a car if he were to only be able to disassemble one-tenth of a car in his life while he was only able to only watch others disassemble cars for his entire life.
Many doctors wanted to change the current situation. A good example was Huashan Hospital’s orthopedic anatomy class, which started in 2004. Without any publicity, they quickly expanded the class size from two classes to more than twenty classes. All the trainees were mature orthopedists who were trained in hospitals all over the country.
The reason why they were willing to go all the way to Huashan Hospital for retraining was that it was difficult for them to get cadavers suitable for dissection in their own hospitals.
For example, even though Yun Hua Hospital was the top hospital in the region, they did not have their own anatomy training, which was one of the things that differentiated between top hospitals in a region and top hospitals in China.
Sometimes, a corpse was more useful for a surgeon to understand the human body than a surgeon performing one hundred surgeries.
In the face of the cadaver sent by Tian Qi, not only Ling Ran, but Yu Yuan, too, no longer harbored any thoughts of being conflicted at the door.
After receiving confirmation from the Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Center, the two of them escorted the cadaver to the basement by its sides. They carefully put the cadaver on the dissecting table and brightened the light. Then, they took a deep breath.
Yes, this was the scent.
The dissection room built by the Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Center now seemed to have been promoted to become a real dissection room, because a dissection room would only look like one when there were corpses in it.
Fortunately, Tian Qi was smart. She did not go down the stairs at all. Instead, she left long ago to go shopping at the mall.
It did not matter which mall!
Whatever she bought did not matter!
As long as there were a lot of people!
Going to the hospital by trailing after the car with the cadaver at night was already Tian Qi’s limit. She could not bear with it anymore.
Ling Ran and Yu Yuan were on cloud nine.
They walked around the cadaver three rounds while they thought about the plan of how they should dissect it in their heads.
As the saying went, “Those who were young did not know how valuable corpses were.” If there were cadavers while they received training in medical schools, as long as the student was shameless, was more hardworking, and looked more attractive, that student will always get a chance to practice.
Once they entered hospitals, clinicians would need to rely on pure luck if they ever wanted to train on cadavers. Ling Ran had better luck. Just as he started his internship, he received three thousand dissection experiences on upper limbs. As for Yu Yuan, it had been a long time since she saw a cadaver. After she put on her gloves, she could not help but tottered over before she touched the cadaver.
In a flash, Yu Yuan could not help but laughed.
The light flickered in the basement while it was dark at night. Her laughter was shrill and loud.
*Knock, knock.*
*Knock, knock.*
Knocks rose in the dissection room.
Ling Ran frowned and asked, “Who is it?”
“Is this Doctor Ling? I am Young Li from Room 2. We met and performed a surgery together last time.” A warm and cordial voice came from outside the door.
“We performed a surgery together last time?” Ling Ran tried to recall the memory.
Yu Yuan snorted, looked at the cadaver, and said, “They are here for the cadaver.”
“Doctor Ling, Doctor Ling. Please open the door…” Young Li’s voice was light, and he sounded like a young, perverted wolf.
“What should we do?” Yu Yuan looked at Ling Ran.
Ling Ran put on a smile that suited societal norms, “Let us ask the cadaver.”
“I’ll be your assistant,” Yu Yuan happily took out various surgical instruments and completely ignored the knocking outside.
She was now particularly envious of Ling Ran. Who would have known that women nowadays knew how to get cadavers?
If a man treated her like this, she would marry him that very same night.
However, just being Ling Ran’s assistant was already very satisfying for Yu Yuan.
Ling Ran’s skills had always been excellent. As she cooperated with him, she also had the chance to come into contact with cadavers.
The dissection room at the basement had warm yellow lights and flashing white lights. In it were also two junior doctors who immersed themselves in their studies, along with a cadaver who had a harmonious on its face.
It was a happy little world.
It felt just like paradise.
Outside the door, the knocking at the door stopped for a while before it started again. Someone shouted, “Ling Ran, I’m Old Qu. We looked after Liu Weichen together…”
The shouts from the bald and plain-looking doctor went on for around ten minutes. Then, he went silent, as if someone cut his trachea.
“Ling Ran, I’m Old Huang…”
“Doctor Ling, I’m Old Liu. Please open the door…”
They came one after another.
Ling Ran acted like he did not hear any of them.
This was the time when he needed the training from cadavers the most. So far, Ling Ran had performed four hundred cases of M-Tang techniques, nearly two hundred cases of Achilles tendon repairs, and more than five hundred cases of finger replantations.
Aside from that, he had also performed more than one thousand physical examinations, along with even more osteopathic massages.
However, when it came to anatomy, Ling Ran only had detailed knowledge of hand anatomy, but not so much on foot anatomy. Zhu Tongyi’s Plan A was a plan based on foot anatomy. If Ling Ran had three thousand dissection experiences on lower limbs, his Achilles tendon repair technique would be better.
In fact, if Zhu Tongyi had more resources, his plan could be further refined.
Ling Ran was, even more, lacking on general anatomical knowledge. Nowadays, Ling Ran really wanted to see the condition of the venous system of the whole body. He was also very interested in the nervous system. The dissections he performed in medical school almost never touched upon the nervous system.
Being able to dissect upper limbs was also an excellent experience for Ling Ran. His dissection experience came from the system, but no matter what, it was still just an experience. He could not gain a thorough understanding of the upper limbs. If he performed a complete upper limb dissection, he would also be able to gain a thorough understanding of upper limbs.
Ling Ran and Yu Yuan stayed in the dissection room for an entire night.
Even if they felt thirsty or they hungry… they had to endure it.
When the next morning arrived, the cadaver could already teach them very few things. Ling Ran told Yu Yuan to pack up and locked the cadaver in the morgue drawer before they opened the door quietly.
At least there were no idiots who slept at the door.
Ling Ran breathed a sigh of relief. In the twinkling of an eye, he regarded the doctors from the Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Center in slight disdain. They were not able to stay up for an entire night like how orthopedic surgeons actually should.
