Dean Gu asked, "Do you suspect there is a brain metastasis?"
Chen Xia took a picture of the CT scan and was already certain that his guess was almost right, and his eyebrows couldn't help but raise a little.
"Intracranial metastasis has been ruled out based on the current condition, as the CT scan shows no obvious edema around the intracranial lesion. And didn't they just say the patient doesn't have cancer?"
At this time, Ren Yuanfei understood his apprentice and asked unhappily:
"I see you have a clear idea in mind. Tell me, what is your diagnosis? But you have to state the basis for your diagnosis."
"Master, have you ever encountered brain cysticercosis?"
"Yes, this disease has been seen in the north before, but I have never encountered a case in all the years I have been in Zhijiang Province. Do you suspect that the patient is..."
Chen Xia ignored the master's questioning and asked the patient's daughter:
"You just said your father changed jobs and you suspect he's in a bad mood. Can I ask where your father used to work and what he did for a living?"
At this moment, several old directors instantly understood what was going on.
The patient's daughter was stunned for a moment, unable to understand what the connection was between her father's illness and his work.
But now is the time to ask for treatment, so naturally I can't do whatever I want like I did in Jianzhou, so I quickly replied:
"My father was originally from the NMG frontier troops. He broke his leg during a mission, so he was demobilized and returned to Jianzhou to become the director of the Agricultural Bureau. However, my father didn't like working in the local area and often said that being in the army was more interesting."
Chen Xia snapped his fingers and said, "Master, how is it? Have you guessed what the disease is?"
Ren Yuanfei seemed to be lost in thought. "Xiao Xia, are you saying that the white spots on this CT scan could be brain cysticercosis?"
Neurocysticercosis is a stubborn intracranial disease transmitted by parasites, with Dichondrium suis being the most common.
Most of the time, it is because the pork eaten contains tapeworm eggs, which develop into cysticercus, pass through the intestinal wall through the digestive tract and enter the mesenteric veins, and then reach the meninges, brain parenchyma and ventricles through the systemic circulation.
Therefore, the area where the disease occurs is often closely related to eating habits. For example, people in Zhijiang Province have just had enough food to eat in recent years, and not many families can eat meat, so there are very few cases of brain cysticercosis, almost no cases.
But the vast north, or northwest, is generally a natural pasture. People in Zhijiang have no access to meat, while those in the pastures have no access to vegetables, eating only beef, mutton, or pork every day.
In places where people like to eat meat, in order to ensure the freshness of the ingredients, they don’t like to overcook the meat, for fear that the meat will be tough and not tasty.
This is similar to how people in Europe and the United States love to eat steak, sometimes only wanting it medium rare, and when you pull the knife open, it's still bloody inside. However, their meat is systematically inspected and is therefore safer.
But in China at that time, people were lucky to have meat to eat, so why bother with testing? They just ate it without thinking.
In addition, because our country is so poor, many people are starving and even cannot afford to eat "rice and pork".
Young people have definitely never seen rice pork, but older people have probably seen it.
This is a kind of dead pork infected with cysticercosis. The color is generally not bright, and there are more or less rice-sized cysts on the fat, lean meat, internal organs, and organs, just like pomegranate seeds.
Eating this kind of pork will easily make you get two diseases.
One is tapeworm disease, which causes tapeworms up to 2 to 4 meters long to grow in the small intestine and excrete white worms in segments in the feces, which are called inchworms.
Another is cysticercosis. After accidentally ingesting cysticercosis, the eggs, under the influence of gastric and intestinal fluids, hatch into larvae. These larvae burrow into the intestinal wall and are carried throughout the body via the bloodstream, where they develop into rice-sized cysts in the muscles. Cysticercosis can parasitize the heart, brain, and eyes. If they grow in the eyes, they can cause blindness, while those in the brain can cause epilepsy.
The Jianzhou patient that Chen Xia and his team are currently treating is actually in the latter situation. Others may not have guessed this due to their professional limitations, but Ren Yuanfei, as the director of the infectious disease department, certainly knows it clearly.
So he explained to everyone:
"After being infected with brain cysticercosis, the brain tissue will be damaged, and the patient will experience symptoms such as headaches, nausea and vomiting, limb movement disorders, vision loss, blindness and forgetfulness. Some patients will even develop epilepsy and mental problems."
At this time, everyone's eyes lit up, as if the patient's various clinical manifestations could all be matched.
"This disease is more common in areas like the north and northwest where people eat more meat. The patient had been working in Inner Mongolia, so that makes sense. This disease has a certain incubation period, so the disease didn't develop until he changed jobs."
Dean Gu was very excited when he heard this. His son-in-law was really amazing. He could even diagnose such an unpopular disease. It seemed that buying this CT machine was a good decision and it was worth it. The reputation of Yuezhou People's Hospital would be spread immediately.
"Old Ren, tell me, what tests are needed to confirm the diagnosis?"
"Well, with our current hospital capabilities, it's difficult to confirm the diagnosis. We lack the necessary immune tests, and we'd need a biopsy to obtain the standard test results, as well as a cerebrospinal examination. However, I think based on the patient's clinical findings and CT scans, we should be able to proceed with a therapeutic diagnosis."
Dean Gu looked at the patient's family with an embarrassed look:
"What do you think? Your father can't stay like this for much longer. If you believe our diagnosis, then we'll try to treat him."
The patient's family heard the doctors' arguments throughout the whole process, so they knew in their hearts that the final diagnosis of brain cysticercosis was indeed the most likely diagnosis, and that at this point, they had no choice but to try every possible means.
"Okay, since we're at Yuezhou People's Hospital, we trust your skills and abilities, so please start the treatment."
Dean Gu slapped Ren Yuanfei on the shoulder and said, "Then the rest of the treatment will depend on you and Director Hua."
In fact, everyone knows that the person who made the greatest contribution today should be Chen Xia, but he is the dean's son-in-law, so Old Man Gu certainly cannot praise him directly. People nowadays still have some shame.
As for decades later, let alone praise, it is frequently exposed that parents set up "carrot recruitment" for their children.
Ren Yuanfei nodded firmly: "Please rest assured, Dean and family members, since the diagnosis is almost accurate, we will definitely treat you with all our heart..."
Before his master could finish his words, Chen Xia quickly interrupted:
"The patient's condition is already in the middle to late stages, and the only cure is craniotomy, but I don't think anyone in our country can perform this surgery.
You see, there are so many white spots, they're almost like baby's breath, and it's almost impossible to remove them. The current treatment is to kill as many cysticercosis as possible so that the patient's condition doesn't get any worse. Do you understand?"
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