In February 2008, a 79-year-old patient with lower extremity arterial occlusion was admitted to our department. Upon admission, the elderly man had already suffered from renal, pulmonary and hepatic failure, was extremely irritable and had been disconnected from his infusion and oxygen lines several times. Ultrasound and imaging tests were required to make a definitive diagnosis, but the severity of the condition prevented the patient from completing these tests. Multi-organ failure has a mortality rate of over 90%, which is a contraindication to anesthesia and surgery according to medical protocol. However, without surgery the patient only dies, while once the surgery is successful and the lower extremities are able to receive blood supply, the patient still has a hope of survival. After a detailed explanation of the condition with the family, they said with tears in their eyes: “Dr. Zhang, the patient himself is also a doctor, and we also have medical staff in the family, we understand the current critical situation, but also understand your feelings at this time, do not worry, even if the old man died on the operating table, we have no regrets, even if it is to make a contribution to the cause of medicine. In the face of a pair of praying eyes, I decisively decided to operate immediately, and could not do auxiliary examination, so I used the method of segmental palpation of arterial pulsation to determine the site of arterial occlusion in the left iliac artery; I could not anesthetize, so I played local anesthesia myself; the patient could not breathe on his own, so I sent someone to pinch the ball to assist breathing. In this way, the femoro-femoral artery bypass surgery was completed amidst the patient’s constant agitation. After the surgery, in order to correct the patient’s multi-organ failure, I watched the patient’s vital signs closely by the monitor and counted the patient’s urine volume milliliter by milliliter. After 7 days of careful treatment, the patient’s condition was greatly relieved and the first words of the old man after he woke up were: Dr. Zhang, you gave me a second life. Zhang Xiansheng, Department of Interventional Vascular Surgery, Peking University First Hospital
One month after discharge, the patient’s partner said to me: “Director Zhang, let me reveal a secret to you, you may not have noticed that when you were doing surgery on my partner, we had a family meeting and decided that everyone in the family would wear sportswear and sneakers, we want you to know that you are not alone, we are fighting with you against death! Crossing the line of death with you!