First evaluation of the method: Treatment of paralysis patients
“在平顶山，手术做了两年，后来我们又随访了4年，直到2003年才发表第一篇文章。”肖传国翻出那篇论文，指着其中一段对记者说，“你看，当时一共做了15例截瘫患者。一年半之后，10人完全改善，排尿非常好；两人部分改善，可以排尿，但需要很强的刺激或者排得不干净；一人失去随访；两人没有效果，成功率80%。”
"At Pindingshan Hospital, we performed the surgery for two years. Then we did follow-ups for 4 years, until 2003 when we published our first paper." Xiao took out a copy of that article, pointed to a paragraph and said to the report, " Look, we operated on total 15 paralyzed patients. One and a half years later, 10 of them improved completely, with very good control of urination; two improved partially, but needed strong stimulation or couldn't empty the bladder completely; One lost contact; two had no effect. The success rate was 80%."
论文发表前的1999年3月，卫生部组织专家对肖传国的这项临床研究进行了鉴定。
In March of 1999, before this paper was published, Department of Health asked an expert panel to evaluate Xiao's clinical study.
记者找到了当时的鉴定意见，发现其中对病例数目的描述与论文中并不一致。鉴定意见中说，“(人工反射弧手术)1995年开始在国内初步应用于临床，治疗截瘫病人14例，术后随访2.5～3.5年，除一例失访、两例失败外，11例病人均恢复可控性排尿，各项尿流动力学参数基本恢复正常或显著改善。”
The report found the evaluation report. The number of cases described in the report is not the same as in the paper. The report said, "(Artificial reflex arc operations) began clinical applications in 1995. Treated 14 paralyzed patients, post-operation follow-up 2.5 to 3.5 years, except for one lost contact, two failures, 11 patients were all restored controllable urination. All urodynamic parameters either basically returned to normal or improved significantly."
鉴定会前，鉴定专家之一、同济医学院教授裘法祖(这位被称为“中国外科学之父”的中国科学院院士是肖传国的研究生导师，他已于2008年去世) 专门去平顶山，对手术效果做了实地考察。原国家自然科学基金委员会(以下简称基金委)生命科学部副主任叶鑫生也参加了此次考察，“当时，肖传国刚回国，想做人工反射弧的研究，给我们写了一份申请书，但在审核讨论的时候，大家还是心存疑虑，想要实地考察一下，这个任务就落到我身上。”叶鑫生告诉《中国新闻周刊》记者，除了他，参加考察的还有协和医院、同济医科大学的人，“都是陪裘老去的”。
Before the evaluation meeting, one of the experts, Qiu Fazu, who was a professor at Tongji Medical School (Qiu was called "Father of Chinese Sugical Medicine", was also Fellow of Chinese Academy of Science and graduate advisor of Xiao, had passed away in 2008), went to Pingdingshan Hospital for this purpose, to see the effect of the procedure firsthand. Former deputy director of the Life Science Division of the China National Science Foundation (CNSF), Ye Xinsheng, went together on this trip. "At that time, Xiao had just returned from abroad. He applied for a grant to study artificial reflex arc. But when we discussed the application, we were doubtful. We wanted to see firsthand how it worked, and I was asked to go." Ye told the reporter, other than himself, there were also people from Xiehe Hospital and from Tongji Medical University, who went as Prof. Qiu's aides.
“去了以后，他准备了4个病人。这些病人通过刺激腿上的皮肤，可以排尿。”叶鑫生说，“当然，有的病人刺激后，也需要用手压一压他的腹部，帮助一下，才能尿出来。裘老看了很满意。”
"When we got there, he prepared four patients. These patients were able to urinate by stimulating their skin on the leg." Ye said, "Of course, some of them also needed to press the stomach to help with the urination. Prof. Qiu saw the results and was quite satisfied."
最后，鉴定会给出了“国际领先”的评价。据一位鉴定专家回忆，他当时觉得人工反射弧手术的确有创新之处，“理论上是站得住脚的，另外裘先生这么大年纪，又亲自去看过病人，他是我很敬重的人，从来不会搞假。”
Finally, the evaluation panel gave a "World Leading" opinion. According to one of the experts on the panel, he believed that the artificial reflex arc operation was indeed innovative, "theoretically it was believable. Furthermore, Prof. Qiu was so old, and he went to see the patients in person. I respected him very much. He never made false claims."
听了叶鑫生的汇报，基金委也同意支持肖传国的人工反射弧研究。不久，他又从基金委申请到一笔更大的资助，两次经费总额接近300万。叶鑫生说：“后来，科技部也看中了他这个项目，又给予他973项目的支持。”
With Ye's report, CNSF agreed to support Xiao's study of artificial reflex arc. Later, he obtained another grant from CNSF. Two grants totaled nearly 3 million. Ye said, "Afterwards, Department of Science and Technology also liked his project, and gave him support in the form of a 973 Project."