United States: In a horrifying event, a 58-year-old man from Florida sneezed his organs out as he was having his breakfast at a diner.
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A man in his early 60s, with a recent history of abdominal surgery, experienced evisceration due to sneezing and coughing, causing several loops of his large intestine to protrude from his abdomen at the diner.
The man had been operated on 15 days before the accident, and his staples were removed that morning, according to a new paper in the American Journal of Medical Case Reports.
The researchers wrote, “During breakfast, the man sneezed forcefully, followed by coughing. He immediately noticed a “wet” sensation and pain in his lower abdomen. Looking down, he observed several loops of pink bowel protruding from his recent surgical site,” as newsweek.com reported.
“He later related that he was unsure of how to proceed, so he covered the exposed intestines with his shirt. He initially decided to drive himself to the hospital, but concerned that changing his position might injure his bowel, his wife requested an ambulance,” added researchers.
“He and his wife went to breakfast to celebrate” his having his staples removed that morning, the researchers continued.
More about the incident
The ambulance arrived quickly and saw “large amounts of bowel” protruding about 3 inches from the wound with minimal bleeding.
As the paper stated, a paramedic considered pushing the intestines back into the man’s body but declined due to the risk of injuring the bowel.
Instead, they covered the intestines with a pad, dressed the man, and administered pain relievers for the ride to the hospital.
The urology service was consulted as soon as he arrived at the emergency department. His vital signs were stable, and preoperative blood work was consistent with previous results, as reported by newsweek.com.
A nasogastric (NG) tube was placed, and after explaining the procedure to the patient, he agreed to undergo an exploratory laparotomy.
What more have the researchers added?
The researchers said, “Three Urologic surgeons carefully reduced the eviscerated bowel back into the abdominal cavity. They inspected the full length of the small bowel and noted no evidence of injury.” They also noted that” the suture line was noted to have dehisced at its center and was closed with a variety of sutures.”
The essential role of sneezing
Sneezing is an involuntary action vital for removing objects or substances from the nasal passages, such as dust, pollen, smoke, or strong smells that irritate the mucous membranes. The body propels wind out of the nasal and oral cavities with a force reaching up to 100 miles per hour.
This isn’t the only injury that can result from sneezing: other research has revealed prevalent experiences of rib fractures, lung herniations, lung tearing, and even brain tissue tearing due to a sneeze.
Sneezing also increases blood pressure to dangerous levels, which has caused the aorta to tear and, in some instances, can lead to death, besides fracturing bones in the face.
In this case, the man had wound dehiscence, meaning the wound did not heal properly, causing the edges to split apart. Ventilatory dehiscence is common in the context of the man’s surgery, with 7 percent of cystectomies falling under this category, according to a 2023 paper.
According to the researchers, “While wound dehiscence is a well-known complication, this case is important because evisceration through the abdominal surgical site after cystectomy is poorly described in the medical literature. A PubMed search for ‘cystectomy AND evisceration’ performed in May 2024 provided only seven results related to evisceration through the abdominal wall after cystectomy,” as newsweek.com reported.