Chapter 2373: Look Beneath the Surface
"Call me as soon as you arrive." Cao Zhao said.
"I see the hospital entrance." Xie Wanying said. As she anticipated, this place is closer to Shou’er, making it more convenient to rescue pediatric patients.
"Doctor Duan and your senior Luo should be at the entrance." Cao Zhao said.
Tonight, Senior Luo continued his shift. So, after baking cakes, Student Pan ran back to the hospital. Strangely, why is Student Duan there? There wasn’t any shift arrangement for tonight, because they are scheduled to start night shifts tomorrow.
"He’s doing experiments, over here with me." Cao Zhao said.
Seemingly, the Immortal Brother had time today to run down to the lab to check the progress of the experiments. While leaders are very busy, those who seem as laid-back as immortals are not actually immortal; their work is completely packed.
The nature of a doctor’s work is practically connected with many aspects of society. Don’t assume it’s just about treating people. For example, if anything happens at the boss’s home tonight, it will affect the listed company’s stock and cause turmoil in the capital market. Someone made several calls emphasizing the importance of saving lives.
The ambulance arrived at the entrance of the Shou’er Emergency Room.
The busy Luo Jingming and Pan Shihua have absolutely no time to watch TV or the news; as they stood at the entrance and suddenly saw Student Xie appearing on the ambulance, they were surprised: What’s happening?
Pan Shihua, the Sherlock Holmes among them, raised a question mark; when he left this afternoon, nothing was amiss.
"Senior Luo," Xie Wanying reported to her senior, "Electric shock."
"I heard about it from 120." Luo Jingming scrutinized his junior, "What connection do you have with the patient?"
"No connection." Xie Wanying quickly clarified. This patient is from the Tianfu No.1 Tycoon District; there’s absolutely no way she could be related.
If there was a connection, she would have called him for help earlier. Luo Jingming did not doubt her words.
A group hurriedly escorted the child into the emergency room.
Duan Sanbao arrived, and upon seeing her, said, "Teacher Cao will be here shortly; let me check the situation first."
Student Pan hurriedly brought over the electrocardiogram machine to perform an ECG for the child. The nurse drew blood from the child. Monitoring devices for oxygen saturation, heart rate, and other vital signs were set up on the patient.
Luo Jingming opened a flashlight to inspect the child’s pupils and consciousness state, then turned to his junior sister, "What did you observe on the way?"
"I suspect an issue with the papillary muscles in the left ventricle." Xie Wanying spoke directly.
Luo Jingming, who specializes in pediatric general surgery, was a bit stunned upon hearing this.
He had rotated through the emergency department and knew that the rescue protocols for electric shock, like most non-cardiothoracic doctors, quickly associate it with arrhythmia, the most severe being ventricular fibrillation.
Ventricular fibrillation, figuratively speaking, is when the heart muscle contractions are uncoordinated like a crumbling sand building trembling. Since the ventricle is the main driving force and the starting point for heartbeats, issues with it can’t be compared to issues with the atrium; clinically, ventricular fibrillation is often referred to as the fatal arrhythmia during near-death.
If doctors see the QRS complex on the ECG drastically change, they will urgently call out for rescue.
Why mention the papillary muscles?
Reflecting on previous cases of Adams-Stokes syndrome with similar ventricular fibrillation scenarios shows that imminent death isn’t only about appearances; it’s about what’s inside. It’s genuinely lethal, and once clinically dissected, substantive heart changes are almost a certainty.
Papillary muscles are protrusions from the ventricular wall into the ventricular cavity, in a conical shape. The right ventricle has three groups of papillary muscles, while the left ventricle has two. Myocardial infarction significantly affects blood supply to the papillary muscles, which can simultaneously generate and maintain ventricular abnormalities.