The patient was hospitalized, but surgeons were able to put her back together successfully.
This article contains graphic descriptions that some readers might find upsetting.
Surgeons at the University of Illinois at Chicago wrote about the case, which involved a 52-year old woman.
An elderly woman coughing and touching her chest from a respiratory illness.© South_agency via Getty
More than a decade earlier, the woman underwent abdominal surgery to treat a hernia.
Unfortunately, the hernia continued to cause trouble and she required additional procedures to repair it over the years.
Abdominal wounds from a surgery can occasionally reopen.
Losing your guts through a reopened wounda literal evisceration, or disembowelmentis very rarely reported, however.
The womans lengthy surgical history also made her more susceptible to such an injury than most.
That said, this still seems to be a freak occurrence.
A version of the paper appears to have only beenmade available onlinein January 2024.
The woman did need several layers of stitches to ensure that her guts would stay put.
The mans diner breakfast and shirt were ruined, but he too made a complete recovery.
Obviously, the lesson to be learned here from these incredibly unusual injuries is: never cough.
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