A Florida man who was dining with his wife at a restaurant recently sneezed so hard that part of his intestine was ejected from his body through a surgical wound, researchers said.
This incident May 2024 Edition of American Journal of Medical Case Reportsdescribes the man, who has not been named, as 63 years old with a history of prostate cancer.
He had encountered various health complications during treatment after a cancer recurrence and had undergone a cystectomy (surgery to remove his bladder) 15 days before the restaurant incident, which left him with a healing scar on his abdomen.
The morning of the man’s sneeze, doctors reported that his wound was healing well and that the staples holding it in place could be removed.
He and his wife went out to a restaurant for breakfast to celebrate.
“During breakfast, the man sneezed violently, followed by coughing. He immediately noticed a ‘wet’ sensation and pain in his lower abdomen. Looking down, he saw several pink rings of intestine protruding from the site of his recent surgery,” the researchers wrote.
The surprised man covered the wound with his shirt and considered driving himself to the hospital, but feared that changing position would make the injury worse, so he called an ambulance instead.
Arriving paramedics padded the wound, gave the man painkillers and rushed him to a nearby hospital.
When measured there, his vital signs were shown to be within normal limits.
“Three urological surgeons carefully replaced the removed intestine into the abdominal cavity,” the cast study continues. “They examined the entire length of the small intestine and found no evidence of injury.”
The Journal notes that this is an important case as it fills a gap in the literature regarding wound dehiscence, or rupture.
“This case is important because although wound dehiscence is a well-known complication, evisceration from the abdominal surgical site after cystectomy has not been well described in the medical literature,” the article concludes.
