My Medical Skills Give Me Experience Points

Chapter 1430 - 570: Infant Hypertension and the Dangers of Consanguineous Marriage (Part 2)

Childhood hypertension is relatively rare, but it still occurs in some cases.

Hypertension in infants is indeed extremely rare.

Most develop secondary hypertension as they age, such as aortic stenosis, renal artery stenosis, renal artery aneurysms, and so on.

"At that time, Qilian did not receive treatment. Later, when he was five months old, he showed signs of irritability, crying for no reason, vomiting, sweating profusely, and other obvious symptoms. His family took him to see the doctor again, and he continued relying on medication for maintenance and treatment until he was nineteen."

She told the assembled doctors Zhang Qilian’s childhood medical history for the first time in full detail.

Infants born with hypertension are particularly difficult to care for.

Sometimes, because parents lack medical knowledge and babies cannot speak, parents complain to others, saying they don’t know why their babies are so difficult to care for and are particularly prone to crying and fussing.

Even a small disturbance can wake them, followed by relentless crying.

In such cases, parents should be vigilant, exercising more patience and attention with their child.

Because if an infant is uncomfortable, they cannot express it accurately like adults can.

Crying is their only form of expression.

If one day they stop crying and fussing, that would be more frightening.

Having suffered from such a rare disease since childhood, Zhang Qilian is indeed very pitiable. Perhaps it is precisely this childhood of growing up with illness that has made his character somewhat peculiar. Zhou Can’s first impression when interacting with Zhang Qilian in the car was that he seemed rather cold.

Perhaps using "grim" would not suffice to describe it.

The word "cold" is more vivid.

Besides that, he is extremely obsessive and ruthless in his actions.

It is said that children who endure too much suffering from a young age often grow up to be cruel and harsh, which seems to hold some truth.

Domestic medical standards were relatively backward decades ago.

Now they are somewhat advanced, but there is still a gap compared to developed countries.

When encountering diseases that are difficult to treat, the country’s medical specialties are often leveraged, adopting a combination of Eastern and Western medicine for treatment.

Firstly, it’s important to explain that proposing the integration of Eastern and Western medicine is both a consideration of national circumstances and a concession out of necessity.

Chinese medicine is declining, and Chinese medicine experts have almost disappeared.

Even the few remaining highly skilled veteran Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) practitioners cannot continue practicing due to credential restrictions.

Overall, Chinese medicine has seriously declined, and its effectiveness is poor.

This has caused the public to lose confidence in Chinese medicine and opt for Western medicine methods first. This is a frightening vicious cycle that will further lead to the decline of Chinese medicine.

Without a market, Chinese medicine practitioners need to make a living and support their families, and may be forced to change professions.

This is basically the current status of Chinese medicine domestically.

Of course, things have improved slightly now. Some wise individuals have proposed the slogan "Western medicine treats symptoms, Chinese medicine treats the root cause." This is quite effective, and the low side effects of Chinese medicine are now generally recognized.

This is a small survival space that Chinese medicine has fought hard to carve out.

Having discussed Chinese medicine, let’s talk about the status of Western medicine domestically. Medical instruments and devices, medications—they are Western medicine’s two major tools for treating disease.

Because our country used to be backward and poor, the development of Western medicine started late, and compounded by foreign technology blocks, Western medicine treatment levels are significantly behind developed countries.

Of course, efforts are being made to catch up, and with some promising results.

But there are still significant gaps in multiple fields.

This realization is imperative.

Basically, learning Western medicine in the early years required an English background. This meant one had to learn English before studying medicine.

This substantially increased the difficulty of studying medicine for medical students.

Even now, some top international medical journals still require submissions to be entirely in English, including well-known ones like SCI and SSCI.

If it were just this, it could still be overcome.

But the technical block on instruments, devices, and medications is a hard barrier.

A skillful cook cannot make meals without rice.

If these hard conditions can’t be resolved, it’s difficult to elevate medical standards.

Let’s expose a slightly harsh medical reality.

When rescuing critically ill patients, doctors always consider using imported medicines and materials first. Because the effectiveness of domestic ones is much poorer, using them may yield insignificant results or even serious side effects.

For instance, the same medication with identical ingredients.

With current technology, detecting drug ingredients isn’t really difficult.

But if you think having the same ingredients means identical efficacy, that’s a huge mistake.

Imported drugs employ advanced slow-release technology, enabling precise control over how long a patient absorbs the medication. This is a significant technological barrier that domestic products haven’t yet overcome.

Just consider this: with over two hundred years of technological accumulation and sedimentation, achieving the same level as them within decades is indeed very difficult.

In summary, our Western medicine standards being behind developed countries is quite normal.

Chinese medicine has declined, and Western medicine hasn’t caught up to their advanced levels. This results in being stretched thin when treating complex diseases.

So what is to be done?

We can’t just watch patients die like this, can we?

This doesn’t stump some of our clever compatriots.

The slogan of integrating Eastern and Western medicine naturally emerged, combining the strengths of both to combat diseases.

Although there isn’t widespread acceptance yet, it’s believed that as long as efforts continue in this direction, there will one day be great achievements.

"Has your husband had hypertension since birth? Was it hereditary? Do his parents or grandparents have similar conditions?"

Xue Yan asked.

"No, none of them have the condition. The reason my husband got the disease might be... his parents were closely related when marrying."

She hesitated slightly when discussing the cause.

Ultimately, not shying away from illness, she revealed the true reason.

Closely related marriages pose substantial harm, which is why many countries do not advocate it.

It goes against ethics and isn’t beneficial for the offspring.

The birth rate of offspring with deformities is extremely high in close relative marriages, as is the emergence of various rare diseases and strange conditions.

"The cause is now basically understood. The patient’s hypertension since childhood led to systemic arterial disease. We will conduct some necessary tests on your husband to determine if he is eligible for surgery."

"I beg of you all!"

She intelligently stood up, bowed, and left.

This was the only issue needing clarification.

"Zhou Can, I know you are also busy with work on the emergency side. However, the situation with this patient is very critical; please help with diagnosis and formulation of a surgical plan. If needed, you might also need to assist in completing the surgery before leaving."

Xue Yan made a request of him.

"No problem. Rescuing the patient’s life comes first, and I’m willing to fully cooperate."

Zhou Can readily agreed.

"Considering the patient’s hypertension history spanning over fifty years, the vascular condition in his body is extremely poor, suggesting cardiac surgery as a priority. Heart transplantation can only be a backup measure."

He can almost foresee that the greatest challenge in performing surgery on the patient will arise from arterial blood vessels.

...

More than an hour later, all necessary tests for Zhang Qilian were completed.

The anesthesiologist from Tuya Hospital’s highest authority, Director Feng, participated in the surgery discussion and patient evaluation.

The risk is extremely high.

The family is willing to take the risk and cooperates well, which facilitates the advancement of the surgery.

Xue Yan personally acts as the chief surgeon, with Zhou Can effectively serving as the second surgeon, summoning the most skilled team from cardiothoracic surgery to give all their efforts.

Vice Director Ye and Administrative Vice Dean Bai both attach great importance to this surgery.

Because this pertains to an important piece of publicity for Tuya Hospital.

The hospital plans to use this case for extensive promotion, putting the Third Hospital in a lowly position, helping Tuya’s cardiothoracic and cardiovascular departments establish their golden reputation.

This is a major strategic decision for the hospital.

Hence, the leadership is very invested.