Healer with a great big heart

Renowned cardiac surgeon starts with respect for life, and his patients

Cardiac surgeon Xiao Yingbin has performed more than 6,000 operations during his 35 years at Xinqiao Hospital in Chongqing.

About 40 percent carried high risks.

In February 2006, an infant from Chongqing's Tongnan district was brought to Xiao. The infant's heart was beating not in the chest but around the navel.

The case was rare - the condition occurs in only five to seven people per million population - and successful operations stood at less than 200 in 50 years across the globe.

Xiao formed a team drawn from 10 departments to conduct research and develop a surgical plan.

On the appointed day, the surgery lasted four hours. And it succeeded.

To express their gratitude, the parents named the infant Xin, borrowed from the first characters of Xinqiao Hospital.

"I just did what I should do as a doctor," Xiao said. "Every patient I meet is a challenge. We doctors should seize every possible chance to save a life."

Exocardia surgery is just one of Xiao's high-risk, and sometimes groundbreaking, cardiac surgeries. Over his 35 years working in the department, he has been recognized numerous times with awards for undertaking the most difficult operations in his field, including China's first conjoined twins separation surgery.

It is his respect for life that drove his transformation into the world-renowned cardiac surgeon he is today.

"The hospital is not some kind of repair factory, where you can wait for tomorrow if you cannot repair it today," he said. "Every minute counts."

Born in an ordinary family in Luoyang, Henan province, in 1964, Xiao decided in his teens to be a doctor. His father, a teacher, suffered from a serious rheumatic heart disease.

"I decided to be a doctor because I wanted to cure my father and people like him."

When Xiao was 15, he realized his dream to enroll at Third Military Medical University.

He gets up at 7:30 am daily to make his rounds with patients. Workdays are often long, with sleep coming again usually around 1 am.

Liu Xiaoli, the head nurse in Xiao's department, said that because heart attacks often happen in the second half of the night, Xiao is on call always, especially in the hours after midnight.

Xiao compared the relationship between doctor and patient with a friendship.

"In my thinking, it is a partnership, or fellowship," Xiao said. "During the course of therapy, what we doctors face are living people, not some cold machines as in a repair workshop. So respect is very important."

Xiao said that patients and doctors should work together to fight illness: "Doctor and patient should trust, understand and respect each other," he said.

Chen Wenping, a mother from Chishui, Guizhou province, recalled Xiao's patience and consideration when her then-8-month-old daughter was diagnosed with congenital heart disease in Chongqing and lying in the intensive care unit.

Xiao's warmth moved her.

"I saw Xiao delight my daughter with a toy," Chen recalled. "Later on, I was told that this actually helped her recover, to take food more easily after surgery."

Now the girl is 18 years old.

After working as a cardiac surgeon for 35 years, Xiao considers himself to be in a golden age, with a mature mind and exquisite skills.

"I do hope I can better serve patients in the coming years," he said. "After all, that is the top priority."

jijin@chinadaily.com.cn