A Hospital in Another World? C.163

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Garrett Nordmark remained calm, first recalling the principles of ultrasound. To be honest, ultrasound examinations were the domain of the imaging department. As a former emergency doctor from another life, he only needed to remember which symptoms warranted an ultrasound, and which situations required what kind of examination.

As for the examination results?

They were all written on the report; even the images on it didn’t require his personal identification. If he could see well, great; if not, it wasn’t a big problem.

As for the principles of ultrasound?

He vaguely remembered reading about it in "Medical Imaging," but if it weren’t for the memory enhancement during his transmigration, he might not recall what the book actually said.

Hmm... Garrett slowly flipped through the pages of "Medical Imaging" in his mind. Luckily, the first chapter had the information he needed.

Ultrasound utilizes 1 to 10 megahertz ultrasound waves, propagating through human tissues. When passing through different organs and tissues, including layers of normal and pathological tissues, each interface reflects and/or scatters the waves to varying degrees due to the different acoustic impedance on both sides.

The echoes or scattering formed by these reflections, along with attenuation information from the ultrasound passing through different tissues, are received, amplified, and processed. On the screen, they are displayed as images or waveforms, creating a sonogram.

Garrett recalled the echo magic. The step of displaying images or waveforms on the screen was directly accomplished by the meditative environment of a mage: it was as if the mage temporarily gained "eyes" like a bat, directly "seeing" the shapes depicted by the echoes.

Thankfully, meditation could handle the process of "seeing." Otherwise, in this medieval-like technological environment, he had no idea where to find a display screen, let alone a computer.

Next up was the matter of "emitting ultrasound waves." Oh yes, he needed to find a coupling agent.

During previous ultrasound examinations, they had to apply a coupling agent to the patient’s skin and press the ultrasound probe against it. Without this, excluding the air around the ultrasound probe, medical-grade high-frequency ultrasound waves couldn’t transmit into the human body.

"Bernard! Come shave the rabbit!"

Garrett shouted loudly. The barbarian ran over, and Garrett handed him the task, while he went to look for an alternative to the coupling agent.

Water... No, it’s not viscous enough; it would flow off instantly.

Alcohol... No, it’s not suitable. It has a similar viscosity to water and irritates the skin.

Aloe vera gel... Sticky, with flow, seemed plausible. The problem was, it was winter, and where could he find aloe vera gel?

What about glycerin?

Garrett surveyed his laboratory and sighed. In the considerable time since he transmigrated, he had been busy with this and that, and he hadn’t gotten around to making glycerin.

This has to be made quickly! Garrett silently added a note to his experimental plan and continued searching. Glycerin was out of stock, how about soybean oil? Olive oil? Rose oil? Wait, why did I have rose oil in my box?

"Garrett! The rabbit’s fur is shaved!"

Bernard shouted from the other side of the room. Garrett grabbed two bottles of edible oil in one hand and several bottles of mysteriously scented essential oils in the other, rushing over.

"...Why did you shave its entire body?"

It only needed its belly shaved... Better to say fewer words; this rabbit looked so ugly shaved all over.

But complaining now was pointless. Garrett uncorked the bottles, poured a pool of soybean oil onto the rabbit’s belly – the cheapest one – and pressed his fingers against the rabbit’s abdomen. With the other hand, he grabbed the bat, took a deep breath, focused, and activated the magic.

Controlled ultrasound waves emitted from his right fingertips, entering the rabbit’s body through the coupling agent.

Hmm... Can’t see clearly.

Increase the intensity a bit?

Still can’t see. The image feedback from the ultrasound was very blurry. Moreover, the image included the cage under the rabbit, the wooden cabinet under the cage, and the floor under the cabinet...

Was it because of the coupling agent? Garrett grabbed a piece of cloth, wiped off the soybean oil, cleaned it, and poured olive oil. The clear and bright liquid flowed on the rabbit’s belly. Garrett’s eyebrows twitched; there was a sharp pain in the anterior region of his heart, as if an invisible hand had twisted it fiercely.

Garrett knew it wasn’t ischemia-induced angina; he was just upset, upset...

Money!

It’s all about money!

Olive oil is precious, precious, precious! This small bottle can’t be bought for a single gold coin!

Oh, olive oil seems to work better as a coupling agent; the ultrasound feedback isn’t as noisy. It seems like he heard somewhere that some liquids lack high acoustic conductivity and contain other impurities that hinder the transmission of sound waves. It’s right to try out different kinds... 𝔣𝖗𝖊𝖊𝖜𝔢𝔟𝔫𝔬𝖛𝖊𝔩.𝖈𝖔𝔪

However, the clarity of olive oil was still far from Garrett’s expectations. Holding back his distress, he tried sweet almond oil, apricot kernel oil, rose oil...

2 gold coins per bottle!

5 gold coins per bottle!

12 gold coins per bottle!

Ding-ding, ding-ding, ding-ding...

The liquids flowing out of those bottles weren’t substitutes for the coupling agent; they were all money!

Garrett’s face twisted and twisted again.

Fortunately, most of these oils were not purchased by him; some were spoils of war, some were obtained in the name of experimental materials from the Magic Council, and some were left here by mages who came to help. Once the experiments were done, they all became his.

If he had to buy and use them now, Garrett would immediately go bankrupt.

After a round of experiments, sweet almond oil seemed to have the best effect. However, he could only vaguely "see" the rabbit’s bones. Garrett sighed:

He had no way to improve the coupling agent on this technological path anymore. Otherwise... Increase the intensity of ultrasound waves?

Adjust the spell model!

Increase output power!

Uh-oh, the rabbit is vomiting blood...

Garrett was bewildered. He stopped releasing the magic, and Bernard let go of his hands. The grass rabbit lay under the cage, its legs kicking weakly, trying to get up but lacking strength. Blood oozed from its mouth in waves. Garrett stared at it for a while, and the rabbit’s head tilted to the side, breathless.

Dead?

Did the excessive power of ultrasound waves kill the rabbit?

Is it the fault of the ultrasound?

When in doubt, dissect and see. Garrett lifted the dead rabbit onto the operating table, rubbed his hands together, and started cutting. Bernard followed along, handing him knives and scissors, watching Garrett cut fur and bones with clinking sounds. Suddenly, he asked:

"So, tonight... are we having roasted rabbit?"

Garrett: "..."

So?

What so?

So, am I doing ultrasound experiments to prepare a rabbit for you to eat?

Wait until I figure out the cause of death before we think about eating!

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