Chinese Medicine: Starting with Daily Intelligence

Chapter 591: Chapter 591: Gaining Qi

For Li Xu, having the system meant he had no fear of the old saying about a master starving after teaching his apprentice.

In fact, he hoped everyone would learn it.

Because only when more people knew the technique could they brainstorm and push it into actual clinical use, benefiting more patients.

Of course, with acupuncture anesthesia, selecting the acupoints was only one part of it.

The real difficulty lay in the second part.

That was the complete control over the process: from "achieving qi," to "guiding qi," and finally, "maintaining qi."

The subtle changes during this process were the core of acupuncture, and also the most difficult part to quantify.

From the perspective of Western medicine, this might need to be explained on a microscopic level, involving concepts like neuro-electrophysiology and neurotransmitter release.

Li Xu’s actions today were undoubtedly sending a strong signal to the outside world:

’Modern research into acupuncture anesthesia has great potential. I have the technique; what I lack are people, funding, and partners. Inquire within, urgent!’

When it came to needling techniques, the goal was to achieve a state of "qi arrival, effect arrival."

What is "qi arrival, effect arrival"?

"Achieving qi" with the needle is like lighting a fuse.

But during a long surgery, how do you keep that fuse burning without letting the flame die down?

This is "maintaining qi."

For example, in the past, lung resection surgeries using acupuncture anesthesia could last for four to eight hours.

With drug-based anesthesia, the Anesthesiologist can administer additional doses over time.

But how do you "add" more "achieved qi"?

This was a problem that had puzzled the world of acupuncture for decades.

However, for Li Xu, who was proficient in ancient methods and had combined them with information from his system, it was not an unsolvable problem.

He adopted an innovative method that drew from the experience of traditional needling techniques and was adapted to the specifics of the surgery: "intermittent manipulation on a single point" and "rotational manipulation on multiple points."

By alternating between "guiding and achieving qi" and "retaining the needle to maintain qi" across different acupoints, it was like two relay teams, with one team always sprinting at full speed.

This allowed the sensation of "achieved qi" from the acupuncture to remain at a consistently high, stable, and uninterrupted level, achieving a prolonged anesthetic state of "qi arrival, effect arrival."

This greatly tested the practitioner’s fundamental skills and their ability to perceive the flow of qi.

"Qi achieved!"

The human body has the qi of yin and yang, which transforms into the qi of the zang-fu organs, circulates through the meridians, and spreads throughout the body.

Only by truly achieving qi and guiding it to the site of the ailment can the miraculous effects of acupuncture be unleashed.

The better one’s ability to "achieve qi," the higher their acupuncture skill, and the more effective the anesthesia.

At this moment, after stimulating the last needle, Li Xu closed his eyes to perceive the result in detail.

He could clearly feel that the qi in the patient’s meridians had been fully mobilized, forming a tight protective net that firmly locked down the pain signals in the surgical area.

He connected the power and watched the waveform pulsating on the Electric Needle Device.

After a brief assessment, Li Xu knew everything was ready.

This was the so-called "qi arrival, effect arrival."

Then, Li Xu opened his eyes and said to Luo Xiangnan, who was standing beside him, "Director Luo, you can begin!"

Luo Xiangnan was taken aback. He glanced at the time and couldn’t help but ask curiously, "Don’t we need to... wait a moment? Anesthesia induction usually takes some time."

Li Xu smiled confidently. "No need!"

"Now is the perfect time to start."

...

The Anesthesiologist from the City Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine stood in the corner, grumbling to himself with a hint of indignation.

’I’ve been an Anesthesiologist for twenty years, and I’ve never seen anything so reckless.’

’Even with the most advanced target-controlled infusion for general anesthesia or the fastest-acting inhalation anesthesia, there’s still a physiological absorption process for the patient to go from induction to a fully anesthetized state.’

’But what about Li Xu?’

’He sticks in a few needles, turns on the power, and says "begin" without even blinking?’

’This is a craniotomy!’

’I simply don’t believe a few needles and some electrical currents can solve the problem of surgical-level analgesia.’

’What’s more, this surgery isn’t short. If the patient wakes up in pain or becomes agitated mid-procedure, who will be responsible?’

As an Anesthesiologist, his hand never left the emergency kit, ready to rush in and "put out the fire" the moment Li Xu’s attempt failed spectacularly.

After hearing the command, Luo Xiangnan began to act.

At this point, more words were useless.

He quickly got into the zone, adjusted the stereotactic frame, and prepared for the first step: mounting the head frame.

This was an extremely painful process.

It required drilling metal screws directly into the patient’s skull to fix the head frame in place, ensuring absolute precision for the subsequent targeting.

Normally, this step alone would require local anesthesia, or even a sedative. Otherwise, the patient would be screaming in pain.

The surrounding neurosurgery experts all had their brows tightly furrowed, their hearts in their throats.

’Is this really going to work?’

’This is the so-called "acupuncture anesthesia"?’

’No local anesthetic, just straight to the screws?’

’How is this any different from one of the Ten Great Tortures of the Manchu Qing Dynasty?’

’Can the patient handle it?’

’What if they start thrashing around in pain and the head frame is mounted crooked? The surgery will be over before it even begins!’

For a moment, the entire operating room was deathly silent, with only the BEEP... BEEP... of the monitor.

Everyone was clearly on edge, anticipating the gruesome scene that was about to unfold.

Meanwhile, in the observation room outside, a neurosurgery director from the City People’s Hospital couldn’t help but frown and mutter, "This... this is too risky, isn’t it?"

"Not even using lidocaine? That’s far too arrogant."

"By the way, Professor Han, you’re from the anesthesia research center, you specialize in this. Can acupuncture anesthesia... really achieve this level of analgesia?"

The man addressed as Professor Han was an elderly scholar.

At that moment, it was as if he hadn’t heard the surrounding discussion at all. His eyes were glued to the large screen, fixated on Li Xu’s procedure, especially the position and frequency of those few needles.

His lips moved slightly, as if he were muttering to himself, but his voice was too low for anyone nearby to hear.

He seemed completely entranced.

"I... I don’t know either."

After a long moment, Professor Han finally came to his senses and said in a complex tone, "But... I think it’s highly possible."

He had been pondering Li Xu’s choice of acupoints.

He Gu, Taichong, Zusanli... these seemingly ordinary, commonly used points, combined with the deep needling of that specific Quanliao point, and that bizarre 100Hz high-frequency electrical stimulation.

The meridian logic and neuro-regulatory mechanisms hidden behind it all were simply too profound.

He was the deputy director of the city’s anesthesia research center and had once been part of a national team that conducted in-depth research on acupuncture anesthesia in his early years.

His own teacher had even participated in drafting a national version of the *Clinical Guidelines for Acupuncture Anesthesia*.

The guidelines clearly stated that pure acupuncture anesthesia could be used for five specific types of surgery, such as tooth extractions, thyroidectomies, and cesarean sections.

However, after the guidelines were published, they failed to cause a stir and were instead gradually sidelined in clinical practice.

The reason was simple: for minor surgeries, acupuncture anesthesia was unnecessary—local anesthesia was more convenient. For major surgeries, it was too risky—the analgesia was incomplete.

Although his team had occasionally succeeded in some major surgeries, those were mostly isolated cases, lacking the support of big data and replicability.

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