In the hemodialysis room, Uncle Liu was lying on the hospital bed, looking at his arms with sagging skin and exposed veins.
There is a purple blood vessel on it that protrudes particularly obviously and looks particularly thick.
He touched it with his hands curiously, and suddenly felt a strange feeling.
Just like the pig's trotters and beef tendons that we usually eat, they are soft and elastic, but also have a kind of toughness.
It looked and felt like a foreign body, but there was no sensation at all. No matter whether it was pressed lightly or kneaded, there was no pain.
It was as if it was born under his skin and was born this way.
Uncle Liu touched it here and there and couldn't help but marvel.
Even though it had been several days since the surgery, he was still a little uncomfortable with it.
In order to prevent recurrence of blood clots, an artificial vein was implanted in his arm specifically for dialysis.
Is this thing really as good as the doctor says? Uncle Liu expressed his skepticism.
"Uncle Liu, it's time for dialysis." Nurse Li came over with a smile and interrupted his feelings.
Uncle Liu looked at the bright needle in the nurse's hand, his neck suddenly shrank, and his whole body shivered.
Every time he came for dialysis, he had to take two injections. Over time, he developed a conditioned reflex.
"Haha, don't be afraid, it will be fine soon."
Nurse Li comforted her casually, and quickly found the blood vessel with bulging veins. She moved like wind, quickly and accurately, and completed the puncture and fixation in a flash of lightning.
The blood containing toxins flows out from a tube and is pumped into the dialysis machine next to it by the blood pump. With the continuous buzzing, the blood pump passes the filtered clean blood through another tube and sends it back to him. of blood vessels.
Uncle Liu's muscles relaxed and he sighed: "Xiao Li, your skills are getting better and better. I don't even feel the pain when you pierce it. It's amazing."
Nurse Li was busy operating the machine and said without raising her head: "It may be that the nerves on the artificial blood vessels haven't grown well yet, so I don't feel it for the time being. After a while, it will be the same as the real thing."
"Haha, that's it." Uncle Liu looked at his arm and felt the tremors of his blood vessels. The surging arterial blood washed away the veins, making a thin murmur.
He grinned, and the folds on his face stretched out like a blooming chrysanthemum.
"This artificial blood vessel is quite strong. It feels stronger and more durable than my own blood vessels. My blood vessels are all pulpy and have been blocked 4 times in half a year."
"I heard from the doctor that this artificial blood vessel has a long life and can be used for life."
Nurse Li explained: "As long as there is no thrombosis problem, it is theoretically possible, but clinically it usually doesn't take that long, usually 10-20 years, before it becomes old and narrow and needs to be replaced."
Hearing these words, Uncle Liu chuckled: "I will definitely not live for 10 years with this disease. It is almost a lifetime use."
Nurse Li smiled and consoled her: "As long as your disease is under control, you can still live for many more years. Maybe you can wait for a kidney source in a few years and replace it with a healthy kidney."
Uncle Liu waved his other hand, shook his head and said: "I am old and have only a few years to live. Any kidney I get will be wasted. If I really have a good kidney, I should give it to a young person. I will With dialysis, how many years can it last?"
As he was talking, he suddenly felt something: "There are more and more young people with uremia now. Last time I did dialysis, I met a few young men in their twenties and thirties. I had this disease before." They are all a bunch of bad old men, and they don’t know what’s going on.”
"It's mainly a matter of living habits. Nowadays, the pace of life is too fast. It's easy to eat and drink indiscriminately and ruin your health." Nurse Li sighed and said that she had also noticed this phenomenon.
Uncle Liu sighed: "Hey, tell me, life is getting better and better now, but everyone is getting more and more diseases. My son also has diabetes at a young age. I used to have this disease. I haven’t seen many people.”
"Diabetes is considered a disease of wealth. It only occurs after living standards improve. In the past, people didn't have enough to eat, so naturally they wouldn't get it."
Uncle Liu nodded with emotion: "Indeed, society has changed so much now. It changes every few years. For my problem, I used to have no medicine, and there was no dialysis. I could only wait. Death, now that I can be rescued and sit here properly, I am really grateful to the advancement of technology."
Nurse Li said with a smile: "You are right. As the saying goes, one small step forward in medical technology means a big step forward in patients' lives."
"Haha, you are so right. You are still educated. This is such a good thing to say. It makes people feel comfortable listening to it."
Uncle Liu gave a thumbs up, and his hearty laughter instantly echoed throughout the dialysis room.
Perhaps it was the result of dialysis, but he now clearly felt that his chest was no longer stuffy, and his whole body was not so tired.
****
Uncle Liu's successful case of transplanting artificial blood vessels to create internal impotence inspired many doctors in the urology department.
They were pleasantly surprised to find that Sanqing's small-diameter artificial blood vessel can be used as a perfect substitute for patients' venous blood vessels and completely solve the main problems that occur in long-term dialysis in patients with renal failure.
Hemodialysis is currently the main treatment for chronic renal failure. Establishing good vascular access is the primary condition for long-term maintenance of hemodialysis. It has an important impact on the effect of dialysis and the long-term survival of patients. It can be said to be the lifeline of patients.
Arteriovenous insufficiency has been used clinically since the 1960s, and it has been used until now. It still has irreplaceable advantages, that is, long use time, low infection rate, and convenient movement. It has always been the first choice for patients with dialysis.
To create internal impotence, the first priority is to use the own blood vessels, and then the transplanted blood vessels. However, the transplanted blood vessels usually come from the veins of the lower limbs, so there will be no rejection problem.
If the patient's own vascular conditions are not good, even the veins in the lower limbs may be too slender, and they will not be able to meet the conditions for internal impotence.
In this case, artificial vascular infertility is also an alternative method.
However, the current artificial blood vessels are too thick to be implanted in the patient's body. They can only be hung on the patient's arm and connected to both ends of the blood vessels in the body, and then punctured during dialysis.
The whole situation is very unseemly and unsightly, and it also affects daily life, and patients are generally resistant to it.
But now with Sanqing's small-diameter artificial blood vessels, everything is different.
It can completely replace the patient's own veins and transplant them to the upper limbs to create arteriovenous insufficiency.
It is not only strong and durable, has excellent elasticity, good biocompatibility, but also has anti-thrombotic effect.
After long-term use, it can combine with the patient's own blood vessels and grow its own nerves and cell tissue, which is equivalent to completely strengthening this blood vessel.
Even if the blockage occurs again, various methods can be used to clear it, and it will withstand the torment better than the patient's original fragile blood vessels.
Therefore, when the first clinical success of small-diameter artificial blood vessels was achieved, the director of the urology department was eager to promote this solution to all patients immediately.
After all, there are many dialysis patients in the hospital's dialysis room every day, not to mention that new young blood is constantly added.
Once the dialysis time of these patients is longer, as late as half a year, or as short as one or two months, the internal impotence will become blocked.
Every time a patient is dredged for blood clots, it is a time-consuming, laborious and extremely troublesome task that can easily take an hour or two.
If the blood vessel condition is not good, an hour or two will be wasted, and surgery will be necessary in the end.
In short, the senior director of the urology department is in a hurry now.
There is an urgent need to replace an artificial blood vessel for every patient with internal impotence blockage.
Of course, he has not forgotten to post his successful cases to Moments and show them to many peers for appreciation.
****
Department of Nephrology, West China Hospital, Chengdu, Sichuan Province.
After seeing a patient, Dr. Tang stretched his limbs on the chair and twisted his neck, feeling a trace of fatigue creeping into his heart.
He saw more than 20 patients this afternoon, and his outpatient tasks had already been completed. Seeing that he was leaving get off work in three minutes, he picked up his mobile phone and scrolled through his WeChat Moments.
I was a little confused as soon as I walked in. The entire circle of friends was flooded with the same surgery, and all the comments from Yishui were complimentary.
"Small-diameter artificial blood vessels are used to treat internal impotence, and the effect is no different from native blood vessels. It is really amazing."
"The 5mm artificial blood vessel is made in China? Sanqing is awesome!"
"This is good news for vein transplant patients and uremic patients, and it deserves to be promoted in many ways."
“Can our hospital apply for clinical trials of artificial blood vessels?”
He anxiously entered a circle of friends with the most pictures and read all the texts before he understood the whole story.
Instantly, an uncontrollable joy surged into my heart.
"It's great. Many patients in our dialysis center also suffer from the deterioration of vascular access and are in great need of such artificial blood vessels."
"I have to report to the director to see if we can also introduce this cutting-edge technology to treat more patients."
Thoughts were racing in his mind. Just as he was about to call the director, his phone buzzed and vibrated.
When he saw it, he turned out to be the director and immediately answered the phone.
"Old Tang, have you seen the news? The Urology Department of Kunming People's Hospital can now transplant small-diameter artificial blood vessels to create internal impotence in patients for dialysis."
"Director, I just saw it on Moments and was just about to call you to report it." Dr. Tang said quickly.
"Then come here. I've already gone to get the patient's information as soon as possible. Let's have a meeting before get off work to discuss this case."
"If it is feasible, I will contact Sanqing Group tomorrow to see if clinical trials can be carried out in West China in advance."
"Okay, I'll be right away." Director Tang was immediately overjoyed. He took his cell phone and walked out the door, jogging all the way to the director's office.
When I arrived at the office, I saw people from the entire department were there, making the whole room packed.
The director sat on the chair. Seeing everyone gathered, he waved his hand: "Let's go to the conference room next to us. I also made an appointment with someone from the Department of Urology."
A group of people came to the conference room with a roar. After a while, the director of the Department of Urology also arrived with a group of people.
"Okay, here are the detailed information I want to come over, including the patient's case, ultrasound images, comparison before and after surgery..." The director of the Department of Nephrology projected the information on the screen as he spoke.
Everyone looked at it eagerly.
While watching, they were whispering and discussing in low voices.
Ten minutes later, the director knocked on the table: "Okay, what do you think? You can speak freely."
Dr. Tang stood up first and said excitedly: "Director, this is great news for the patients in our hemodialysis room. We must quickly carry out clinical cooperation."
The director's face darkened: "I asked you to talk about surgery, but I didn't ask you to talk about this."
Dr. Tang was stunned for a moment and quickly sat down: "I don't have anything to say about the surgery. Anyway, if you are awesome, that's it."
The director looked at the others speechlessly: "What do you think?"
Everyone started talking about it.
"Removing the diseased blood vessels, replacing them with artificial blood vessels, creating internal impotence, restoring blood flow channels, and successfully completing dialysis are quite feasible treatment options."
"Generally speaking, damage to extracellular matrix components is one of the important factors in the occurrence and development of vascular diseases. During arterial and venous sclerosis, extracellular matrix components such as elastin and proteoglycans tend to fragment, or develop properties Change. Sanqing’s artificial blood vessel is mainly composed of elastin, which can not only heal itself but is not easily damaged, making it a very ideal blood vessel.”
"Sanqing's artificial blood vessels seem to cover both large and small diameters. They can not only replace the aorta, but also replace venous blood vessels. The parameters are much better than imported blood vessels."
"Actually, I think artificial vascular insufficiency should be like this. It is simple, convenient, easy to maintain, and will not cause any trouble to the patient's life."
"That's right, whether it is an artificial blood vessel failure or an internal jugular semi-permanent vein, they are only temporary measures. Sanqing's small-diameter artificial blood vessel has no intention of showing us a brand new solution."
"Actually, many patients have reported to me that hanging a thick rubber tube on their arm for a long time will be uncomfortable, and they are afraid that exposing it will attract strange looks. In short, the psychological pressure is still great. Who can be a normal person? I don’t want to.”
"I have several patients with internal impotence and blood vessels that are often blocked. Every time I try to remove blood clots for them, my hands are numb and the patients are in pain. Once the blockage lasts for a long time, they will not be able to undergo dialysis and their lives will be in danger. "
"Last time I transplanted a thigh vein for a patient, but the caliber was too small, less than 2 millimeters, so it couldn't be used. It was really difficult. In the end, I had to temporarily make a semi-permanent internal jugular vein cannula."
"I really hope they can use artificial blood vessels to completely solve the problem of arteriovenous insufficiency."
Both physicians and surgeons were in a state of excitement.
At this moment, the Department of Urology and Nephrology have, to some extent, merged.
Doctor Tang looked at the scene in front of him, but he was a little distracted.
He didn't care about the content of these discussions. He only had one urgent thought in his mind, which was when artificial blood vessels would be used.
The atmosphere of the meeting was very lively and it lasted for an hour before it ended.
The two directors even contacted Sanqing's medical representatives on the spot, asked for a large amount of relevant information, and received satisfactory answers.
Finally, the cooperation for clinical trials was finalized.
At this point, Dr. Tang finally felt relieved and breathed a long sigh of relief.
"Finally, we can make their dialysis more comfortable. Life is already very bitter because of uremia. It would be great if we could add a little sugar to their bitter life and make it less miserable."
Thinking of the familiar faces in the dialysis center, his eyes suddenly sore, and an inexplicable emotion welled up in his heart.
