Birth of "artificial reflex arc" theory
肖传国说，他最初有人工反射弧理论的想法，是在1976年唐山大地震后。“我当时是第一年住院医生，医院里挤满了送来的伤员。其中，最可怜的就是截瘫患者，不仅不能动，而且大小便解不出来，非常遭罪。”
Xiao said, his first idea of artificial reflex arc, was after the big Tangshan earthquake in 1976. "I was a first year resident doctor. The hospital was filled with injured (from the earthquake). Among them, the most miserable were those paralyzed. They couldn't move, and worse, they couldn't control bowel movement and urine. It was heart wrenching.
排尿是一个复杂的过程，“但关键就是最后一个信号，膀胱排尿的信号。”肖传国说，“截瘫患者由于脊髓断了，上面的信号下不来，所以没法自己控制排尿。但他们下面的神经还是好的，比如仍有膝腱反射，一敲膝盖腿还是会翘。我想，能不能用这些神经去控制小便呢，把它们引到膀胱上去，然后从外面给一个刺激，不就有信号了？”
Urination is a complicated process, "but the key is in the last step, a signal from the bladder to empty." Xiao said, "Paralyzed patients because the spinal cord is severed, the signal from the top cannot reach the bottom, so they cannot control urination. But their nerves below are still good. For example they still have the knee tendon reflex, if you strike the knee the leg still comes up. So I thought, can we use these nerves to control bladder? If we connect the nerve to the bladder, then stimulate it from the outside, would that be the signal we need?"
“简单地说，我的想法就是把一根体神经与控制膀胱的内脏神经连接在一起，形成一个人工建立的反射弧，达到患者自控排尿的目的。”
"Put it simply, my idead is to connect one of these nerves to a splanchnic nerve that controls the bladder, to form an artificial reflex arc. This will allow patients to control their urination.
1978年，肖传国考上了研究生。他回忆说：“当初选择泌尿外科专业，就是想实现这个想法，解决截瘫病人的大小便问题。不过，那时科研条件很差，没办法做。直到后来出国，我的想法才慢慢付诸实施。”
In 1978, Xiao was admitted to the graduate school. He remembers, "My decision to choose urology was to realize my dream of solving the continence problem of paralyzed patients. But at that time, our research conditions were very poor, we couldn't do it. Not until when I went to the US, I was able to gradually implement my ideas."
在美国，肖传国利用那边的条件，“申请了基金，在老鼠、猫、狗身上做起了试验。经过动物实验，初步证实了我的想法。1990年，我在美国泌尿学会上，以大会论文的形式，首次报告了这项工作。”
While in the US, Xiao took advantage of the better conditions, "applied for a research grant, and experimented on mice, cats, and dogs. Through animal experiments, I had the preliminary proof of my idea. In 1990, I reported for the first time this work on the US urology conference in the form of a conference proceeding."
1995 年，肖传国开始做临床应用研究。他选择的第一站是河南平顶山煤业集团总医院，之所以没有首先在美国做，是因为“在美国申请基金非常慢，最快也要等一年半到两年。而且美国对做临床研究审批很严，光是做个口服药都要(准备)成卡车的文件，做人(的手术)就更难了，再加上我又是一个外国人，就不知道难到哪里去了。”
In 1995, Xiao began research the clinical application. His first choice was the Pingdingshan Coal Mine Hospital in Henan province. The reason that he did not first do the trial in the US, was because that "in the US application for grants is very slow, at least one and a half to two years. In addition, the US has much stricter approval process for clinical trials. Even for oral drugs you would need truckloads of paperwork. It's harder for surgery procedures. Further, I am a foreigner, it would be even more difficult."
“当时，平顶山矿务局卫生局局长正好在美国访问，听说我在做这个工作，就非要邀请我去。后来我就去看了一下，那儿有个最大的优点，病人都是矿上的矿工，能够保证长期随访。”
"At that time, the head of Pingdingshan Coal Mine Health Bureau was visiting the US. He heard that I was working on this so invited me to their hospital. I went and visited them. The biggest advantage that hospital offered was that all the patients were miners so we could keep long term track of them."
据肖传国介绍，在平顶山做临床研究“不需要卫生部批准，医院的伦理委员会通过就可以”。
According to Xiao, the clinical study at Pingdingshan hospital "did not require approval from Department of Health, only needed the hospital ethics committee's approval."