Chapter 1685: 1628 An Unexplained Death

Zheng Ren found it increasingly strange.

The medical record described that the patient was hit with a liquor bottle; the two parties argued, the victim bled continuously but had no further bodily contact, and was later pulled apart and sent to a nearby hospital for treatment.

The first CT showed no problems; the report made no mention of subarachnoid hemorrhage, subdural hematoma, or similar images.

But the record said the patient was then conscious, with no problems in behavior or demeanor.

The head CT taken after arriving at the hospital was also normal; the patient was admitted only because he requested inpatient observation.

The doctor had mentioned this point in the original record.

Usually in such cases, the doctor would note something like "the patient strongly requested inpatient observation"; although it's useless, not writing it always feels like something is missing.

Subsequent rounds were also normal, and Zheng Ren could see obvious traces of copying and pasting in the record.

Only for the mildest patients would a doctor casually copy and paste the record.

However, at dawn on the third day, the situation suddenly deteriorated.

The victim, who had been fine before bed, got up to urinate in the middle of the night, but soon developed incontinence of both urine and feces.

This is the strangest point.

Because the initial hospital was a county-level facility in the suburbs of the capital, when the problem was discovered the doctors were completely baffled.

A perfectly fine person, after being hospitalized for two or three days, suddenly falls asleep and then just… stops?

The local doctors also looked bewildered, so they advised the patient's family to hurry to a higher-level hospital.

Because the case involved the perpetrator and payment issues, it was delayed by several hours before the patient was eventually transferred to the affiliated hospital of Capital Medical University.

Yet after arrival, the patient's pupils were already dilated bilaterally, with almost no light reflex, and the series of symptoms including incontinence showed no improvement at all.

Nuclear magnetic resonance revealed signs of a large cerebral infarction.

Finally, the patient's family refused further testing and a definitive diagnosis for financial reasons, focusing their energy on suing the other party.

The patient lingered on saline glucose for a week before finally passing away.

The CT report I just looked at was done by the affiliated hospital of Capital Medical University.

"Boss Zheng, you're here?" Li Zhaosen saw Zheng Ren finish reading the report, handed him the white coat, and said eagerly, "I've waited three days just to see your dissection skills."

"I don't know the rules; you go first, I'll watch." Zheng Ren spoke a little slowly; Su Yun knew this guy was surely thinking about the condition in his head, so he didn't speak, just stepped back half a pace.

Several teachers from the anatomy research office whispered among themselves, trusting Li Zhaosen more; after all, they had worked together a long time, and his basic anatomy skills were the most solid.

"Then I won't stand on ceremony." Li Zhaosen said: "Boss Zheng, if I'm doing anything wrong, just tell me!"

Zheng Ren glanced at him, seeing that his tone was quite serious, not like joking or being insincere.

Recalling when I did anatomy teaching at Capital Medical University, the last person named Li Zhaosen sat in front watching; after separating the muscle layers and outer membrane, he even rushed forward and touched the cadaver with his hands.

He is indeed a model technician; in his eyes, having a few hundred cadaver teachers accompany him would be the best place.

Li Zhaosen cut open the victim's scalp, described the temporal injury, and an assistant came down to help.

Afterwards he skillfully used an electric saw to open the skull.

The left temporal cap-like ligament and left temporal muscle both showed patchy bleeding; the brain tissue was congested and edematous, with multiple early softening foci of varying size in both internal capsules and basal ganglia.

As the skull was opened, a foul smell permeated the entire dissection room.

"No intracranial bleeding, consider it a lacunar infarct." Li Zhaosen said firmly, "We still need to dissect the chest and abdomen to rule out other diseases."

"Wait a moment." Zheng Ren suddenly said.

"Huh?" Li Zhaosen startled a bit.

A very typical anatomical structure: the brain tissue is congested and edematous, with early softening foci of unequal size in both internal capsules and basal ganglia.

What's there to wait for?

Su Yun's eyes lit up; although he didn't grasp it, this is neurosurgery's domain—if he doesn't understand, he doesn't understand, and he simply doesn't care.

Zhou Chun Yong covered his mouth and nose, and together with the teachers from the anatomy research office nearby, stepped back a few paces.

"Not right." Zheng Ren said, beginning to put on gloves.

Li Zhaosen had prepared sterile clinical gloves for Zheng Ren, while he himself wore ordinary latex gloves.

Zheng Ren didn't know whether he had noticed; after putting on the gloves, he reached out.

His hand came up empty.

"Scalpel." Zheng Ren said in a low voice.

"Oh oh." Li Zhaosen responded twice, handing over the knife in his hand.

Their coordination was especially lacking; Li Zhaosen pointed the blade's tip at Zheng Ren instead of tapping the handle into his hand like an instrument nurse would.

Zheng Ren almost got cut by the blade.

Fortunately, at the last moment, Zheng Ren dodged away after Su Yun's reminder.

This is the difference between clinical practice and forensic medicine.

There was a slight hiccup; Zheng Ren didn't pay too much attention, picked up the knife, and began dissecting the victim's neck.

One cut down, and Su Yun's eyelids twitched twice.

"Doctor Su, why does Boss Zheng look as if he's been a forensic medic for years?" Zhou Chun Yong felt Zheng Ren's proficiency in dissecting corpses was somewhat odd, leaned over to Su Yun and whispered.

The difference between doctors and forensic medics is still quite obvious.

Boss Zheng's movements are definitely not those of an operating table; with that aura of gods blocking and killing gods, he looks like a fierce demon—who knows how many corpses he's dissected.

Su Yun shook his head, his eyelids jumping.

He had long noticed that Zheng Ren's technique was unrestrained—this certainly wasn't practiced on an operating table.

Zheng Ren wielded the knife as if in a system operating room, following his own thoughts; his dissections were clear, heading straight for the neck's main artery.

He cut, separated, found the carotid artery, and Zheng Ren split it open.

The carotid artery contained a large amount of atherosclerotic plaques.

"Boss Zheng, what is this?" Li Zhaosen said, a bit puzzled.

Zheng Ren said nothing, continuing to drift upward and dissect.

Soon, the drift reached the origin of the right internal carotid artery. Upon opening it, they found a thrombus forming here, extending distally, 1.5 centimeters long, completely occluding the lumen.

Li Zhaosen fell silent.

It wasn't the cerebral infarction he had judged, but an occlusion of the internal carotid artery!

This is too coincidental, Li Zhaosen was a bit puzzled, but he was clearly more confident in Zheng Ren than Su Yun was, quietly watching Zheng Ren dissect.

"In case there is a possibility in the future, we should still look at the medical record." Zheng Ren stopped his hand, very satisfied with his judgment, "Brain tissue sent for frozen section; under the microscope, slight focal bleeding can be seen in the cerebral softening focus and within the V‑R sinus of part of the brain's blood vessel,"

Pineal body cells swollen, cytoplasm eosinophilic, nucleus dissolved, processes shortened or disappeared. Part of glial cells also show nuclear dissolution or remnants of nuclear outline."

Li Zhaosen looked like a duck hearing thunder, his face full of bewilderment.