I Am Diagnosed as a Medical Titan

Chapter 26: Chapter 26: Taking Every Aspect to the Extreme

Jiang He’s idea was simple: he wanted to partner with Yang Xu.

He wanted Yang Xu to help him handle the bureaucratic red tape and publicly lend him his credibility.

But to Yang Xu, the whole thing sounded absurd.

A third-year undergraduate wanted to use his legitimate credentials as the top surgeon in hepatobiliary surgery at Affiliated Hospital No. 1 as a cover to advance his own research?

Yang Xu narrowed his eyes. ”Why should I waste my time on you?”

”Professor, this is a win-win.”

Jiang He said, ”The research we conduct together will be published in *Lancet* or the *New England Journal of Medicine*, and could even rewrite medical guidelines.”

Yang Xu didn’t believe a word of it, but he didn’t argue, simply letting him talk.

Jiang He continued, ”Then, I’ll use that as leverage to apply for early graduation and direct admission into your Ph.D. program. Once we’ve published a few more papers in top-tier journals, it won’t be hard for the university and hospital to jointly grant me the title of special research fellow.”

”With that title, and your official endorsement, I can guide research projects in the department and act as your first assistant in surgery without it being a violation of the rules.”

”The rules are rigid, but their application can be flexible.” Jiang He’s eyes were full of conviction. ”Professor, you’ve been stuck on this research topic for a long time. Work with me. In six months, I’ll give you a paper in a top-tier journal that will rewrite global treatment guidelines, as well as countless late-stage patients who can walk out of the operating room alive. How about it?”

Yang Xu chuckled and stubbed out his cigarette in the ashtray.

”Not bad, kid. Confidence is a good thing.”

He clearly wasn’t taking him seriously.

Top-tier journals? Rewriting the guidelines?

Forget a mere undergraduate student.

Even he himself, after working half his life at Affiliated Hospital No. 1 and mentoring countless doctoral students, had never dared to dream of such a thing.

In 2008, a medical student could brag for a whole year just for publishing a filler paper in an ordinary Q3 SCI journal.

Let alone the top-tier journals.

Jiang He asked, ”You don’t believe me, Professor?”

”Of course not,” Yang Xu replied with a smile. ”If you could really produce results of that caliber, forget a special researcher appointment—the hospital director himself would come downstairs to welcome you to work. But it’s too difficult, next to impossible. Do you have any idea how many top experts across the country have their eyes on those journals every year? What do you possibly have to offer them?”

”The difficulty doesn’t matter, as long as the path exists,” Jiang He said. ”I want to get the authorization as quickly as possible and start contributing to our country’s medical field. Cancer doesn’t wait for anyone, and I don’t want to wait either.”

This sudden appeal to a noble cause left Yang Xu speechless.

Setting aside whether Jiang He could actually succeed or not...

...his spirit alone was enough to move him.

Students these days were all thinking about how to coast through for credits or find a cushy, high-paying department.

But this young man before him had a noble purpose, dedicated to serving the country and its people.

His perspective was on a completely different level from those other students.

’To strive for the rise of Chinese medicine.’

Even at his age, he felt a surge of passion.

”Good,” Yang Xu praised. ”Good kid. You’ve got ambition and a sense of responsibility!”

He said, ”You want to join my team, right? No need to wait for the top-three ranking. I’ll make a special exception. As soon as the second round of the competition is over, come report to me at the lab.”

”Thank you, Professor.” Jiang He stood up and gave a slight bow.

Yang Xu smiled. ”Don’t thank me just yet. I haven’t agreed to your grand plan. Once you’re in the lab, just start by keeping your feet on the ground.”

The mentor’s response was exactly what Jiang He had expected.

He needed to demonstrate his abilities to his mentor to earn his trust.

This was also part of the plan he had formulated back in the library.

Jiang He said, ”Professor, I actually already have a specific research idea that I was planning to start on during the National Day holiday.”

Yang Xu was taken aback. ”So soon? What’s the topic?”

Jiang He took a pre-prepared proposal from his backpack and handed it to Yang Xu.

”It’s a project on pancreatic cancer. I want to study the correlation between the lymph node ratio, or LNR, in pancreatic cancer and patients’ postoperative survival prognosis.”

Yang Xu took the proposal and glanced at the title. ”Pancreatic cancer? The international community reached a consensus on this long ago. What’s the point of you studying the metastasis rate?”

”The current standards are too crude,” Jiang He said. ”Take two lymph-node-positive cases. In one, you resect ten lymph nodes and find one has metastasized. In the other, you resect ten and find nine have metastasized. Can the prognosis for those two patients be the same? But the current guidelines classify them in the same category.”

Jiang He’s speech quickened. ”I believe that the ratio of positive lymph nodes to the total number of dissected lymph nodes—the LNR—is the independent risk factor that determines prognosis. If we can prove this with data, it would mean that current surgical procedures must expand the scope of lymph node dissection. That would be rewriting the textbooks.”

As a veteran surgeon, Yang Xu had a keen academic intuition.

He thought about it and felt the concept was actually quite good.

First, it didn’t require expensive gene sequencing equipment or targeted drugs, making it extremely cost-effective.

Second, the cost-to-benefit ratio was incredibly high. If they really found a correlation, they could potentially reach a conclusion that could overturn the existing staging standards.

A hint of admiration entered Yang Xu’s tone. ”How do you plan to do it?”

”I need data,” Jiang He said. ”A large amount of retrospective case data. So, I’d like to ask you for a favor, Professor.”

”Go on.”

”I heard that Affiliated Hospital No. 1 is currently responding to a directive to upgrade its electronic medical record system. The pathology department and the records office have a huge backlog of paper records that need to be entered into the computer.”

Jiang He’s reasoning was perfectly sound:

”My three roommates aren’t going home for the National Day holiday. We want to volunteer at the records office of Affiliated Hospital No. 1 to help the department digitize all the paper case files for pancreatic cancer from the past five years. In exchange, we can also build a large-sample, retrospective clinical database for pancreatic cancer that includes LNR characteristics.”

Jiang He looked at Yang Xu and said earnestly:

”I can extract the pathological features and dissection data from the original case files in the records office. But for the survival prognosis, just checking the records office isn’t enough. That’s why I need you, Professor, to step in and lend me the department’s follow-up registry for pancreatic cancer patients from the past five years to cross-reference. Without the post-discharge survival data you have, I can’t create the prognostic survival curves.”

Yang Xu laughed again.

’This kid... his reasons were so high-minded, and the entry point he’d chosen had an extremely low cost.’

’Then he had him completely cornered on the matter of the crucial follow-up registry, and he’d even lined up his own grunt labor.’

’He had really thought of every single angle.’

’He might be a bit of a schemer, but what he wants to do is a good thing.’

’Publishing papers, improving medical standards—it’s all for the country and its people.’

’Under that premise, his scheming isn’t really scheming. It’s just being meticulous.’

Although Yang Xu was still skeptical of Jiang He’s actual abilities...

...it didn’t stop him from starting to like this student.

After a moment’s thought, he said, ”Alright. During the National Day holiday, you guys can go straight to the records office. I’ll make the arrangements.”

After saying this, he sized Jiang He up with a hint of curiosity.

’Let’s just see what kind of first draft you can whip up for me over the National Day holiday.’