A Surgeon Who Uses Martial Arts [EN]: Chapter 196

Chapter 37: Reckless (1)

Seo-joon began to disinfect the patient’s head.

Swish.

Swish.

The red povidone solution spread out in concentric circles from the patient’s forehead.

Joon-hoo stared at the scene, feeling a bit frustrated.

It was frustration about his year of residency.

As a first-year resident, there were too many restrictions on treatment.

Studying medicine since high school.

Possessing martial arts and internal energy.

Having Jae-hyun as his mentor, this subdural hemorrhage surgery wasn’t that difficult for Joon-hoo.

However, there was considerable opposition from those around him before he got to this point.

Like Min-kyung.

And Hye-jin, who was standing beside him now.

They couldn’t hide their worry and anxiety towards Joon-hoo.

If Joon-hoo hadn’t been firm, the patient would be in an ambulance instead of the operating room right now.

Without proper treatment.

The brain would have slowly died.

Maybe that’s why.

Joon-hoo wanted to become a specialist as soon as possible, a fellow, and a professor.

Because that’s when he could fully display his skills.

Flap!

The surgical drape was gently placed over the patient’s disinfected head.

“Scalpel, number 10, please.”

“Yes, Doctor.”

Joon-hoo held the scalpel Hye-jin handed him. The scalpel felt unusually light as a feather today.

Blue Breeze Sword Technique, Second Form: Wind Sky Moon Glow.

He made a horizontal incision on the patient’s scalp with the scalpel laid sideways.

The move that used to cut through the chests of demonic figures in the martial world was being applied to surgery.

Flash!

The trajectory of the scalpel shone in the air.

An incision appeared 5cm below the crown of the patient’s head.

The incision was vertical.

Joon-hoo had no doubt that the length of the incision would be exactly 4 centimeters, even though he didn’t measure it with a ruler.

“Yoo Seo-joon, stop spacing out and retract.”

“Ah. Yes, Senior.”

Seo-joon, who had been admiring Joon-hoo’s scalpel skills, spread the incision open vertically.

The grayish periosteum [membrane covering the bone] appeared beyond the opened incision.

Joon-hoo wiped the blood flowing from the incision with gauze and then cut through the periosteum in one go.

Joon-hoo was more confident than any other surgeon in the world when it came to using a scalpel.

Perhaps even his mentor, Jae-hyun, would be inferior to Joon-hoo when it came to procedures involving a scalpel.

Because Joon-hoo’s foundation was as a swordsman.

“Wow, this is a mess. How are we going to fix this?”

Hye-jin, who was next to Joon-hoo, asked in astonishment.

When the periosteum was cut, the skull was revealed, but the condition of the skull was terrible.

The patient’s skull was suffering from a depressed fracture and a comminuted fracture [a fracture in which the bone is broken into multiple fragments].

The center of the frontal bone (forehead bone) was sunken like a collapsed roof.

To make matters worse, two-thirds of the sunken area was finely broken and fragmented like a cookie.

“Is this a big deal? Can’t we just suction it out?”

“No.”

“Why?”

Seo-joon asked with wide eyes.

“We need to collect the bone fragments separately. We need to wash them and use them later for the cranioplasty [surgical repair of the skull].”

“So, do we have to remove all these broken bones by hand, one by one?”

“Yes, we do.”

Joon-hoo nodded and continued.

“We’ll restore the patient’s skull using the separately stored bone fragments, wire, adhesive, and rapid plate.”

“Will we have time for that? If they’ve suffered this much trauma, there must be severe cerebral hemorrhage [bleeding in the brain].”

“…….”

“There seem to be about 30 bone fragments… If we remove these one by one by hand, the intracranial pressure [pressure inside the skull] will go crazy.”

Seo-joon clearly stated his opinion.

It wasn’t a wrong opinion.

If Joon-hoo was an ‘ordinary’ surgeon, he would have removed the bone with suction and restored the skull with artificial bone later.

But Joon-hoo was an ‘extraordinary’ surgeon.

The hematoma [a collection of blood outside blood vessels] had been finely crushed with internal energy before the surgery.

Worrying about intracranial pressure was unnecessary.

Above all, Joon-hoo had faster and more accurate hand movements than others.

“Wouldn’t it be better to use suction, even though I don’t want to? There’s a priority, after all.”

Hye-jin agreed with Seo-joon’s opinion.

But Joon-hoo shook his head.

Why choose the second-best option when there is a best option?

“Give me two Edison toothed forceps.”

Joon-hoo held out both hands to Hye-jin.

Joon-hoo was going to grab the bone fragments with the forceps and move them to the curved tray.

“Are you really going to remove them one by one? It looks like it will take 20 minutes.”

“20 minutes? Are you kidding me? It’ll take 2 minutes.”

“But why are you asking for two forceps?”

“Because I’m going to remove them with both hands.”

Joon-hoo held the two forceps Hye-jin handed him in each hand.

Swish. Swish. Swish. Swish.

It wasn’t a sound coming from his mouth. It was the sound coming from Joon-hoo’s lightning-fast hand movements.

Every time Joon-hoo’s hands went back and forth over the patient’s skull.

Clang. Clang. Clang. Clang.

Bone fragments fell onto the silver curved tray.

While removing the bone fragments one by one, Joon-hoo incorporated the principles of Cloud Dragon Wind Tiger.

Blue Cloud Sword Technique’s 12th Form: Cloud Dragon Wind Tiger.

It was an extremely aggressive quick sword technique.

A sword style that utilized thrusts without giving the opponent a chance to breathe.

If you mastered the form to the extreme, the opponent would experience the illusion of seeing as many as four swords.

Incorporating the principles of Cloud Dragon Wind Tiger.

As he removed the bone fragments with both hands, the bone fragments disappeared as if a crab had eaten them.

As promised, Joon-hoo showed off his skill by removing all the bone fragments in just 2 minutes.

“…….”

“…….”

A long silence followed the procedure.

The staff stared at the clean skull and then turned their gaze to Joon-hoo.

“What did I just see? I thought I saw eight arms on that senior, but I must be mistaken, right?”

“I… I saw that too?”

Joon-hoo chuckled at Seo-joon and Hye-jin’s testimony.

“I told you it wouldn’t take long.”

“Still, I didn’t expect it to be this fast. It was over faster than suctioning…”

“First, keep the bone fragments refrigerated so they don’t get contaminated. We’ll need to use them later for the cranioplasty.”

Joon-hoo pointed to the curved tray filled with bone fragments with the forceps.

“…….”

“Doctor?”

“Ah. Yes. I understand.”

Hye-jin, who had been spaced out, covered the bone fragments with gauze and moved towards the supply room.

“Senior, what was that hand movement just now? It was like you were using magic.”

“Maybe a martial arts novel?”

“I don’t know much about it, but roughly.”

“Then let’s call it swordsmanship instead of magic.”

Joon-hoo answered half-jokingly, half-seriously.

* * *

While Hye-jin was away for a moment.

Joon-hoo put down the forceps and looked down at his left hand.

The ambidextrous skill he had learned during his orthopedic surgery residency was proving to be very useful.

Ambidextrous skill.

A somewhat comical martial art of playing rock-paper-scissors with both hands.

When he learned this martial art.

He was ridiculed a lot, but once he mastered it, the effect was terrifying.

Isn’t it a tremendous merit for a surgeon to be able to use both hands freely?

When performing simple procedures like now.

He could shorten the procedure speed by a factor of two.

When performing precise procedures, he could increase the precision by a factor of two.

He had already acquired Eye of Discernment.

Should he move on to the next martial art to learn?

Because he had been devoted to swordsmanship in the martial world, there were many martial arts that he only knew in his head and hadn’t learned.

Joon-hoo put a few of them on the list of candidates.

“Doctor. I’ve stored the bone fragments safely. Are you going to do the cranioplasty right after the surgery?”

Hye-jin stood next to Joon-hoo and asked.

Only then did Joon-hoo wake up from his thoughts.

“No. I’ll have to see the patient’s condition after the surgery.”

“You’re not saying you can’t do it? I know that cranioplasty is only possible from the 3rd year.”

“I can do it if I have to.”

“When Dr. Seo first said he was going to perform the surgery, I was very worried, but now I think differently.”

“How so?”

“I feel very reassured. It’s like I’m doing surgery with a professor.”

Hye-jin said in admiration.

Of course.

Because he was following the professor’s surgery exactly.

Joon-hoo barely managed to hold back from saying that.

Today, Joon-hoo’s surgery was a form that absorbed Professor Kwak Dong-joo’s style as it was.

Professor Kwak, who specialized in cerebrovascular diseases, preferred aggressive and fast surgery.

As if reminiscent of the domineering sword style of the Kunlun School.

Joon-hoo was so impressed with Professor Kwak’s surgery.

Joon-hoo had stylized and memorized some of Professor Kwak’s surgeries, and he was now fully demonstrating that style.

In other words, it was fair to say that Professor Kwak was the surgeon in charge of today’s surgery.

If he absorbed the strengths of the professors like this.

In the near future.

Joon-hoo thought that he would be able to develop his own unique surgical style.

“Here you go.”

Hye-jin handed over the suction tube, and Joon-hoo received it.

“I’m also reassured because you’re helping me, Doctor. How can you read my mind and hand over the surgical tools so perfectly?”

“I’m pretty good too, though not as good as you, Doctor.”

“I guess so.”

Thanks to Joon-hoo’s performance, the atmosphere in the operating room had become friendly.

Now, no one doubted or worried about Joon-hoo’s surgery.

Cheeee.

Cheeee.

Joon-hoo swept the opaque dura mater [the outermost of the three layers of membrane protecting the brain and spinal cord] with the suction tube.

Although the bone fragments had been removed, some bone debris was scattered on the dura mater.

For a perfect surgery.

Even the bone debris had to be removed.

“Seo-joon, irrigation.”

“Yes, Senior.”

As Seo-joon washed the dura mater with saline, the surface of the dura mater became smooth.

Joon-hoo picked up the number 10 scalpel.

He carefully cut through the dura mater.

Because micro-cerebral blood vessels were passing under the dura mater, more delicate force control was needed than before.

Sreureureuk.

When he made a horizontal incision in the dura mater, the dura mater peeled off like an orange peel.

“Retract with a fixed retractor. The vertical traction width is 5 centimeters.”

Seo-joon followed Joon-hoo’s instructions.

As the incision in the dura mater opened vertically, the inside of the dura mater was revealed at a glance.

The venous sinus forming an arch.

Red micro-vessels and nerve bundles branching out like tree branches.

Cerebrospinal fluid [clear fluid surrounding the brain and spinal cord] flowing leisurely like a river, etc.

“Huh? What’s going on? The hematoma is finely divided.”

“I know, right? This shouldn’t be happening?”

Seo-joon and Hye-jin blinked in surprise after confirming the hematoma.

The hematoma, which should have been clumped together like a bead, was floating in the space under the dura mater in 8 pieces like pizza slices.

This was logically impossible.

Because the blood that had bled had the property of clotting.

It would never break apart on its own.

“Senior, have you ever experienced this before?”

“No. This is my first time too? What’s going on?”

Joon-hoo brazenly denied it.

“I’ve never seen anything like this in my life. Are you going to measure the intracranial pressure first?”

“Of course.”

“I’ll give you the catheter.”

Thud!

Joon-hoo held the intracranial pressure measurement catheter Hye-jin handed him.

Without a moment’s hesitation, he stabbed the catheter towards the third ventricle [a cavity in the brain].

Poooook!

When he felt the sensation of penetrating the ventricle at his fingertips.

Joon-hoo stopped the catheter from advancing.

Beep. Beep.

After a while, the intracranial pressure reading appeared on the intracranial pressure monitor connected to the catheter.

[7mmHg.]

0-15mmHg is normal intracranial pressure, but the patient already had normal intracranial pressure.

It was thanks to Joon-hoo reducing the volume of the hematoma in advance with internal energy.

Before the surgery.

It was also the reason why Joon-hoo had confidently stated that the surgery was already ‘more than 70 percent’ done.

“Wow, that’s unbelievable. The impact was so severe that a skull depressed fracture occurred, but the intracranial pressure is normal…”

“Is it because the hematoma is broken up? If the hematoma had been clumped together, it would have easily exceeded 30mmHg.”

Hye-jin and Seo-joon repeatedly admired and were surprised.

Joon-hoo could only feel his mouth itching as he watched the two’s reactions.

Internal energy and martial arts.

Joon-hoo had a secret that he couldn’t reveal to the world.