Chapter 155 The Nanny's Niece's Counterattack 155 ...
Should she be subjected to a second trauma? Lin Wei hesitated.
In the end, she still gave the choice to Yin Fang, but made the odds seem even lower.
“We will treat your husband in any way we can, but the chances of a cure are extremely slim, so it’s practically useless. Do you still want to try?” If she agrees, she will begin treating her husband. If she doesn’t want to, and wants her husband to pass away peacefully, she can understand.
Upon hearing this, Yin Fang shifted her body and slowly raised her head to look at the woman who had rushed over from elsewhere after learning about her husband's situation. She asked, "Are you researching rabies treatment?" Even if she didn't understand, she knew after hearing many of her conversations with infectious disease doctors.
Lin Wei nodded. "Yes, I'm currently researching rabies treatment." But to her dismay, she couldn't help her right now.
Yin Fang looked at her, thinking to herself, "If only she could really develop it." However, she suppressed her sorrow and nodded, "Okay, I promise." If her husband really couldn't be saved, then she would contribute to rabies research.
She doesn't want to hear about anyone dying from rabies again.
Lin Wei felt even more conflicted after hearing this. Sometimes she would rather see some loud and boisterous patients and their families than see patients and their families like her, because good people don't always get good rewards.
But because of her permission, she started to take action immediately. The first step was to use sedatives and anticonvulsants such as darts, midazolam, etc., to induce a deep coma in the patient. Then, just like in the simulation room, she used all the prepared items in batches.
Some of the ingredients were diluted with her medicine, not to cure the patient, but to buy as much time as possible. She also wanted to use this time to search the system space library for a way to save him.
Even if it's just to extend his lifespan, that would give her time to develop a cure.
Lin Wei thought this way, but she also knew the probability was too low. She just couldn't give up. So, apart from coming over every day to give medicine to patients, she spent the rest of her time in the system space.
They're either flipping through books, conducting petri dish experiments, or trying out different methods in the simulation room.
"No, it still won't work." She grabbed her hair, a hint of frustration in her eyes. It was frustration at the pressure of time, and frustration at the life-or-death situation.
The virus it produces travels along the central nervous system, damaging nerve cells. If that were the case, it could be repaired with neurotrophic factors. However, the virus triggers an immune response, and since it travels along the nerves throughout the process, the nerves also suffer immune damage. The spinal cord and brain will only be damaged more severely.
This creates a vicious cycle. If the patient had been brought in during the prodromal stage, things would have been better; the virus wouldn't have multiplied so much, and there would still have been a chance of recovery. But now…
At this moment, Lin Wei thought, "If only nerve cells could regenerate." Whether a nervous system injury can be cured depends on the regenerative capacity of nerve cells. Except for a few peripheral nerve cells that have a certain regenerative capacity, once the central nerve cells die, they are truly dead.
Otherwise, cell transplantation wouldn't be used to cure vegetative state patients.
However, although she is still conducting research, the results are not significant; at least, she has not yet cultivated stem cells that are immune to rejection and usable by everyone. But she has confirmed one thing: stem cells can indeed differentiate into neural stem cells, promoting nerve regeneration.
However, she had only cultivated peripheral nerve cells before, and she still did not know how to differentiate central nerve cells.
At that moment, a crazy thought flashed through her mind: why not abandon the nervous system and focus all her efforts on attacking the rabies virus? And then treat other problems later?
Once the thought came to mind, I couldn't shake it off.
If she can develop drugs to treat neurological and brain disorders and maintain the body's normal functions, is there still hope for this patient?
For this reason, Lin Wei did not try it in the laboratory, but went straight back to reality and began drawing peripheral blood from patients.
She needs to extract his peripheral blood hematopoietic stem cells, and then further extract, optimize, and purify them.
However, it is clear that these stem cells are far from enough. How much peripheral blood can she draw from a person? She can't possibly drain a person's blood completely, and other methods of stem cell extraction are ultimately too dangerous for current patients.
Even if it were possible, the quantity would still be insufficient.
Therefore, Lin Wei's next step is to cultivate stem cell regeneration and promote its transformation into nerve cells, especially nerve cells of the central nervous system.
She got stuck at this very step when she was researching stem cell technology last time. Previously, she thought there was no rush and she could take her time. However, now she has no choice but to consider it.
This was as difficult as expecting her to achieve something extraordinary overnight. What made her think she could give it a try? It wasn't confidence, but simply the despair in the eyes of the patient's family.
It was then that Lin Wei realized she wasn't actually so heartless. But then again, how could anyone be without emotions?
It was precisely because of this that she was simultaneously trying to keep the patient alive and prevent his condition from worsening, while also researching methods for nerve cell regeneration. She even went so far as to drastically alter the patient's nervous system in order to eradicate the rabies virus.
Conventional antiviral drugs are completely ineffective; the only benefit they provide is increased side effects.
Seeing that her husband seemed much calmer and his condition wasn't as bad as before, Yin Fang happily looked at Lin Wei and said, "Doctor, is my husband getting better?" This was the first time she had seen him like this, and he had been expected to die in ten days, but now he had been alive for half a month.
She hadn't had any expectations, but seeing this scene, she couldn't help but feel a glimmer of hope.
Lin Wei shook her head. "It's not as easy as you think. The rabies virus has decreased significantly, but it came at the cost of damage to the nervous system and the death of other normal cells. Moreover, the virus replicates extremely quickly and will soon return. This is just a matter of having no other choice." She couldn't make the rabies virus disappear like she had done with the previous epidemic.
The best approach now is to rely on the immune system to fight it, allowing the rabies virus to develop its own antibodies. This way, her next challenge won't be eliminating the rabies virus, but rather restoring normal neurological function.
Here, Lin Wei already had a general direction, but she still needed to stall for time. She also asked Chi Boyan to help her figure out if they could develop a more advanced immunomodulator. In immunological research, she was indeed inferior to him.
Upon hearing this, Chi Boyan readily agreed, "Okay." However, he couldn't help being surprised; the patient was still alive.
It wasn't that he wanted him dead, but it was rare to see someone with rabies survive until this point.
How did you do that?
Lin Wei fell silent. "It came at the cost of damage to the nervous system." It wasn't exactly a positive outcome; it just kept him alive. She hadn't even considered the patient's potential quality of life or level of consciousness after he woke up.
You have to be alive to think about these things; once you're dead, you can't think about anything anymore.
"My plan is to get his immune system working and produce antibodies on its own. The human body does have a certain degree of self-adaptability under certain circumstances." But the first priority is to keep him alive.
Chi Boyan frowned upon hearing this. "Do you have a way to solve the follow-up problems?" This wasn't a question, but rather a reasonable doubt about what would happen next.
What happens after antibodies are produced? What if his nervous system is damaged? What if he experiences impaired consciousness? What if he develops dementia or mental retardation?
Lin Wei: "I'm already researching stem cell differentiation into nerve cells. As long as he can produce antibodies, the worst outcome is that he'll be lying in a coma in a hospital bed. And I have plenty of time to develop a drug that can wake him up."
If normal cells die, she can induce their regeneration. As long as the viral load can be controlled within a certain level and antibodies can be produced, the patient may still be saved.
Chi Boyan listened without saying anything. "Since you have an idea, then go ahead and do it. It might take me another three days to develop it." He mentioned the timeframe, which was achieved by using the X-cell to speed things up. Compared to her, he was indeed less restricted.
"Um."
However, just as Lin Wei was about to continue his research on the rabies virus, he hesitated for a moment and asked, "Do you think brain death is true death?" Everyone believed that once brain death was diagnosed, it would be considered clinical death.
If her research succeeds and artificial neurons can be made, is it possible to change this situation?
Lin Wei frowned upon hearing this. "I don't know." Until the technology reaches that stage, brain death is essentially a hopeless condition for most people. However, if medical technology advances, diseases that are extremely difficult for the general public might become much simpler.
Why are you suddenly asking this question? Did someone ask you to research this?
Chi Boyan: "Yes, the Mayo Clinic invited me to jointly study this disease, and I think they probably invited you as well." After all, she is recognized as the number one surgeon in the country.
Lin Wei: "I didn't go check." She hadn't logged in for a long time and didn't know if they had sent her the information. She just thought their research was quite amazing, a bit crazy.
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