How to make the obstacle-removing magic hand?

Dazhong.com reporter talks to Zhang Han: How is the obstacle-removing magic hand made?

Keywords: Zhang Han’s obstacle-removing magic hand, Propranolol, for rotary-knife cataract surgery

[Abstract] In 1994, by chance, President Wang of Jinan Second Municipal Hospital returned from an exchange trip to Canada and brought back a cataract surgery videotape. Phacoemulsification cataract removal surgery leaves only about 2 millimeters of operating space for the surgeon, which imposes extremely stringent technical requirements.

Demonstrated surgical procedures for local doctors in Qinghai.

Zhang Han leads the medical team to go to the countryside for free clinics

In the past 20 years of cataract surgery, Zhang Han has performed more than 50,000 cataract surgeries without any mistakes, creating a miracle in the industry. , known by patients as the "magic hand that removes obstacles."

Moon on the Xijiang River · Journey to Qinghai

The water of the Yellow River flows eastward, and dream chasers come westward. They work together to drive away the haze, and virtue is rooted in love.

China is a vast country, and the motherland is changing day by day. Although we are thousands of miles apart, we are like neighbors, and the Lu Qing family is close.

——Zhang Han

In early August, Dazhong.com and the Second Hospital of Shandong University jointly organized the "Qinghai Bright Tour" event. The medical team was led by Zhang Han, director of the Ophthalmology Department of the Second Hospital of Shandong University. The team went to Qinghai and performed free cataract surgery for 100 cataract patients in Haidong area. Seeing hundreds of patients who had had difficult lives and had been troubled by cataracts for many years walk off the operating table and see the light again, showing sincere and joyful smiles, Zhang Han was inspired to write a song as a commemoration of this Bright Walk event.

Since 1995, he has been performing cataract surgery for more than 20 years. Director Zhang Han has performed more than 50,000 cataract surgeries. He has gone through countless difficult surgeries without making any mistakes, creating a miracle in the industry and is praised by patients as As the "magic hand that removes obstacles". A few days ago, a reporter from Dazhong.com had an exclusive conversation with Zhang Han, revealing how the "magic hand for removing obstacles" was developed.

The expert shook his head: "It's too dangerous, never do it again!"

Back in the early 1990s, with the advancement of medical technology and equipment, phacoemulsification of cataracts The removal surgery has gradually matured, and the international medical community has begun to generally recognize this eye surgery method.

At that time, this technology was still in its infancy in China, and only a few ophthalmologists from top hospitals such as Zhongshan and Tongren could master it. In order to maintain a technological monopoly, these experts keep the technology of phacoemulsification cataract removal extremely confidential, making it impossible for outsiders to learn even a little bit.

In 1994, by chance, President Wang of Jinan Second Municipal Hospital returned from an exchange trip to Canada and brought back a cataract surgery videotape. In the same year, the hospital purchased the first phacoemulsification machine in the province. With the "shooting guide" and the "gun" bought, the key personnel of the Ophthalmology Department of the Second Municipal Hospital were excited, and they were all gearing up and ready to do something big.

Phacoemulsification cataract removal surgery leaves only about 2 millimeters of operating space for the surgeon, which requires extremely strict technical requirements. After a period of preparation, a middle-aged expert who was the backbone of the ophthalmology department at that time walked onto the operating table with the expectations of the whole hospital. After three operations, the expert shook his head repeatedly: "This operation is too dangerous, I will never do it again!"

The whole hospital was in despair, and no one dared to try it again.

The phacoemulsification machine bought with a lot of money is lying quietly in the operating room.

Newborn calves are not afraid of tigers and are determined to practice hard for half a year

After graduation, Zhang Han was assigned to Jinan Municipal Second Hospital. Like other young people, Zhang Han goes to and from get off work every day, which is ordinary but fulfilling. Spent three years.

One day at the end of 1994, he came to Dean Wang: "I want to see how advanced this technology is."

Dean Wang looked at the youngest person in the hospital The doctor: with a vibrant face, resolute eyes, and an open-minded attitude, he gave him the videotape he brought back from Canada with the attitude of giving it a try.

Zhang Han, as if he had found a treasure, took the video tape home and watched it hundreds of times. On the way to work, during breakfast time, I kept thinking and digesting. After a few months, he was able to recite the 20-minute video tape like a short movie.

After get off work, I don’t have time to take a walk with my wife, go to the mall, or go to Jingyiweijiu to practice stalls or eat barbecue. While watching the videotape, he turned the knife on the imaginary eyeball incision on the desk.

After practicing "empty" on the desk for a while, Zhang Han began to think of ways to practice "real". While chatting with a patient, the patient accidentally said, "My neighbor works in a meat processing factory." Zhang Han's eyes lit up: Pig eyes! Isn't this just the material for practice?

Since then, people often see a young man braving the high temperature of more than 30 degrees, pedaling a 28-inch Golden Deer, from the Municipal Second Hospital to Beiyuan Street. It was a more than ten-kilometer journey to and from the joint factory.

After getting the pig eyes, Zhang Han would walk into the operating room alone every night after get off work, turn on the phacoemulsification machine, play a short movie in his mind, and practice step by step.

"May 23, 1995, I will always remember that day!"

At the turn of the spring and summer of 1995, Jinan Municipal Second Hospital received a special patient. Although he has cataracts in his right eye, the retina has detached and there is no hope of regaining his sight. For this patient, the cataract removal was just to make his right eye more beautiful. Even if the operation was unsuccessful, it would not affect his vision. In this way, the pressure on the surgeon is instantly reduced by more than half.

With more than half a year of practice and simulation, Zhang Han stepped onto the operating table.

In the ten minutes of surgery, he felt like he was going through the past six months all over again.

When the results of the operation were evaluated the next day, everyone was shocked: there were no complications after the operation, and the operation was completely successful!

"May 23, 1995, I will always remember this day!" After nearly 20 years, Zhang Han still remembers it very clearly.

This surgery not only changed the entire department's fear of phacoemulsification surgery, but also represented a leap-forward development in this field of Jinan Second Municipal Hospital. For Zhang Han, it means a new starting point for his career.

After becoming famous in the industry, more and more patients came to him for surgery. Due to work arrangements, he was appointed director of the Department of Ophthalmic Trauma, but more patients came to ask him to perform cataract surgery than in the cataract department.

Others only saw the moment when Zhang Han succeeded, but few knew the efforts he put in, and no one knew the pressure he was under. Cataract surgery requires a high degree of coordination between hand and eye. Capsulorhexis, emulsification, and implantation must be performed within a 2 mm space. If the force is too little, the cornea will be injured. If the force is too much, the fundus will be injured. It requires high spatial perception and is very difficult. It's comparable to dancing on a cliff and slicing potatoes on someone's back. If you are not careful, not only the operation will fail, but also the patient's health and the doctor's personal reputation. Therefore, the psychological pressure this operation brings to doctors is no less difficult than the operation itself.

Like other young surgeons, Zhang Han also has to pass the psychological test. In the first two or three years, he was not very skilled and confident. Each operation would keep him awake for three consecutive days: he was under great pressure the day before, walking on thin ice on the day of the operation, and the next day he was anxious waiting for the results of the postoperative examination.

“If I am too nervous on the day of surgery, I will take half a propranolol tablet a few hours in advance.” Zhang Han told a reporter from Dazhong.com. This is also the first time that he has revealed his little secret from more than ten years ago.

With diligent study and hard work, Zhang Han’s surgical skills have improved rapidly in a few years. Many hospitals have asked him to perform surgeries, and he has gradually become a well-known cataract surgery expert. . In 2007, Zhang Han came to his current workplace, the Second Hospital of Shandong University.

During this period, he once completed 70 operations within 5 hours. Excluding the time for changing isolation gowns and disinfection, each operation only took 4 minutes on average. After 50,000 operations, there were many complex situations, but there was no mistake. He has developed a pair of "magic hands for removing obstacles".

A good surgeon should not be just an operator

One day in 2005, a special elderly cataract patient found Zhang Han.

Since his cancer has reached an advanced stage, the old man knows that he will die soon, but he especially wants to see his children and the world again. After Zhang Han heard about it, he postponed all plans and performed cataract surgery for the old man as quickly as possible. Clearly seeing his children surrounding him one by one, the old man was moved to tears: "I didn't expect to see you before I died, I really didn't expect it!" A few months later, the old man passed away, and his children specially Come and thank Zhang Han again.

“That surgery made me realize that a good surgeon should not just be an operator.” Zhang Han told Dazhong.com reporters that since 2005, he has started to provide free clinics and free surgeries. Now every year, we go to remote areas where there is a lack of medical treatment and medicine to do the "Light Walk" activity. Not only do we exempt people in need of surgery and examination fees, but we also waive the cost of imported lenses used in surgeries.

Similar to this "Qinghai Bright Tour" event, every time Zhang Han goes to a place, he will try to motivate and train local ophthalmologists, try to let them master more key points of cataract surgery, and make local cataract surgery more effective. Patients no longer need to go out of the mountains and can get high-level treatment at their doorstep. In Jiyang, Zaozhuang, and Qinghai, Zhang Han led a group of local ophthalmology backbones, some of whom have become proficient in phacoemulsification cataract removal surgery.

As the research deepened, Zhang Han felt more and more that there was a big gap between the domestic training system for young doctors and that of foreign countries. "Currently, there is no mature and standardized training system in China. If surgeons want to grow, they must rely on their own understanding to a large extent." Zhang Han said that in this regard, foreign countries have established standardized and phased training goals. There are detailed training plans for young doctors every year. After several years of systematic clinical training, they can become the backbone of the business.

Zhang Han told reporters from Dazhong.com that in the next step, he plans to join forces with cataract experts to discuss and formulate standards for domestic young doctor training programs based on foreign experience, so that talents in this field can form a growth echelon. Even if cataract doctors trained in this way cannot guarantee that everyone will become a top expert in the industry, they can to a large extent avoid common fatal mistakes in current surgeries.

Having basically been on weekends for 20 years, I feel that I owe my wife and daughter too much

The surgeries for the "Qinghai Bright Tour" event were performed in two operating rooms in turn. At noon, Zhang Han's His condition was getting better, but the two assistants in the operating room were tired and hungry and could hardly hold on. "If we make five more, we will eat." Zhang Han finally relaxed at the request of reporters and assistants. So, at 1:50 in the afternoon, the medical team finally sat in the doctor's lounge and wolfed down their lunch boxes.

“After being married to Lao Zhang for more than 20 years, he basically never takes a weekend off.” Zhang Han’s lover, Ms. Zhu Qing, complained to a reporter from Dazhong.com. Although he now has a worry-free life, Zhang Han has never had time to take his wife and daughter out for more than ten years, and has focused almost all his energy on work. Because she often had to help Zhang Han write papers, Ms. Zhu Qing, who had never studied ophthalmology, was familiar with professional terms such as "capsulorhexis".

After get off work every day, a family of three can take a walk together in the community, which is already a luxury for her daughter Zhang Shidi. Now in junior high school, she has never enjoyed the life of having her father tutor her homework under the desk lamp like other children in the class.

"She also often complains. I feel that I owe them both a lot, but I still don't have time to make up for it." Zhang Han said with a bitter smile.

In the hospital, Zhang Han is notoriously busy. Sun Hongyi, an ophthalmologist at the Second Hospital of Shandong University, told a reporter from Dazhong.com that in his memory, Director Zhang Han could not take a day off in an average month, and working overtime on weekends was a compulsory course.

During the interview, Zhang Han left the reporter with an intuitive impression of calmness and stability, with no desire for profit in his eyes. Although he now has a worry-free life, his life was quite difficult in the first few years when he started working.

"Lao Zhang has never felt much about money. VCDs became popular in 1995. We really wanted to buy one at that time, but we really had no money. In the end, we borrowed several hundred yuan from my mother. I bought it," Zhu Qing said.

Zhang Han told a reporter from Dazhong.com: “I don’t think young people need to care too much about their current income. As long as they have a clear goal that is beneficial to society, through their own efforts, their achievements will be recognized by society and those around them. People agree that money is not an issue.”