Recently, the Department of Emergency of Ngari Prefecture People’s Hospital admitted a 54-year-old male patient of Zang ethnicity. The patient had spontaneous rupture and hemorrhage of primary liver cancer, with more than 1,000 mL of intra-abdominal blood accumulation, and was a rare Rh-negative “panda blood” type, leaving him in a critical condition.
After contrast-enhanced CT confirmed the diagnosis, the patient faced a dual dilemma of a massive tumor and an extremely rare blood type, with only 1.5 units of compatible red blood cells available at the local blood bank, making the surgical risk extremely high. At this critical moment, Professor Guo Cheng, a hepatobiliary surgery expert from the First Affiliated Hospital (FAH) of Xi’an Jiaotong University (XJTU) supporting Xizang, took the lead and urgently consulted with Attending Surgeon Xire from the Department of General Surgery of Ngari Prefecture People’s Hospital. They immediately reported the situation to Hospital President Zhang Xiaogang and Vice President Gongsang Mingjiu, and jointly discussed the treatment plan with Director Peng Huaiyu, an interventional radiology expert from the same hospital who is also providing medical support in Xizang. Drawing on thirty years of medical aid experience in Xizang, the team ultimately determined that surgical resection was the optimal option.
Subsequently, the multidisciplinary collaborative treatment system operated efficiently: Cidan Zhaxi, Director of the First Department of General Surgery immediately joined the rescue efforts, Wang Xinlu, Director of the Department of Anesthesiology rapidly initiated surgical preparation, and medical and nursing staff from the Departments of Blood Transfusion, Laboratory Medicine and the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) responded in close coordination. At midnight that night, a surgical team consisting of Guo Cheng, Gongsang Mingjiu, Cidan Zhaxi and Xire, with the cooperation of the Department of Anesthesiology and the Operating Room, performed the procedure with precision and successfully resected the tumor in only 45 minutes, clearing 1,500 mL of intra-abdominal blood during the operation.
The success of this operation not only saved the patient’s life, but also filled a technical gap in the field of high-risk hepatobiliary emergency care in Ngari Prefecture, marking a new level in the local capacity for hepatobiliary surgical treatment. Under the years of paired assistance and mentorship from experts supporting Xizang, local physicians have grown into key clinical backbone staff, and all aspects of care, such as preoperative evaluation, postoperative management and emergency blood transfusion, have fully demonstrated the comprehensive rescue capability of the local medical team.
Postoperatively, after two days of meticulous monitoring in the ICU, the patient was successfully weaned from mechanical ventilation, and his vital signs returned to a stable condition.
