In April 2012, I paid a visit to academician Wu Mengchao. His office was not large, the bookcase accounted for half the wall, and the huge desk was piled high with various books. He was known as ‘The Father of Hepatobiliary Surgery’ and the founder of Chinese hepatobiliary surgery. When I walked into his office, he took my hand and ushered me to sit opposite him. I looked at his ruddy face, I couldn’t imagine that he was already over ninety years old! Academician Wu looked at me and said, “Ah well!” I knew he was referring to my illness.
I said, “It has been more than six years”.
“You did it.” Academician Wu smiled, it may be the occupational care of a surgeon, but more likely the care between friends, “Did you receive chemotherapy? What kind of treatments did you have?”
“The only treatment I had was immunotherapy.”
“Okay…Immunotherapy is very important!” He said seriously, “Now the cancer treatment should have a new train of thought. We have treated liver cancer for a long time, but the 5-year survival rate has not improved in the last twenty years. What are we to do? Systemic treatment should be recommended; excessive chemotherapy is undesirable, it is impossible to kill all cancer cells and it should be a good strategy for human beings to coexist with tumors.”
Every time academician Wu met me, he always said to me, “Forget your own age” and each time he would discuss with me how to innovate. He stressed that we should not expect one kind of drug to have revolutionary and subversive effects, the best solution would be integration, including the integration of medical philosophy, the integration of diversified techniques and the integration of a multi-disciplinary technical team (Figure 48).
The President of the International Hepato-pancreato-biliary Association, Mr. Williams has praised the achievements of academician Wu stating, “He is admired by all international peers”. I believe it is academician Wu’s innovation that contributes to his success.