Here are some of the bizzarro medical highlights published in scientific journals or otherwise made the news in 2024.
Just a few will do.
Losing your guts
Two separate cases of people literally busting out their guts made waves this year.
An eel and lemon removed from a patient’s body.© Viet Duc University Hospital
Theother casewas originally published in September 2022 but only became available online in January 2024.
She was hospitalized, but her guts were successfully put back in as well.
Abdominal surgeries are known to be a risk factor for disembowelment, but they remain rare.
A hairy situation
Just in case you were wondering, hairballs arent only a problem for cats.
In July, surgeons from Ecuadorreportedpulling out a two-pound hairball from a young womans stomach.
Rapunzel syndrome can be life-threatening, though both cases were caught in time before that could happen.
Its most often sparked by a psychological compulsion to pull and eat ones own hair.
The mans extra genitalia were inside his body, and his external penis appeared and functioned normally.
Scientists only discovered his condition after his body had been donated to science for cadaver research.
But sometimes, these felines can cause bouts of medical misery.
The condition is formally known as neurocysticercosis, and its resulting from tapeworm cysts.
The man was treated with steroids and antiparasitic medication, which did help reduce his symptoms.
Otherwell-known brainworm survivorsare thriving as well.
Toilet trouble
Some stories start bad and somehow get worse.
The man subsequently contracted a life-threatening infection from the bite that sent him to the intensive care unit.
Margarita burn
Heres one reason to limit your day drinking.
In December, doctorsdetaileda strange case of phytophotodermatitisaka lime disease, a.k.a.
So heres a brief ode to some honorable mentions.
The great eel escape
Few cases have ever haunted us at Gizmodo quite like this next one.
The man visited an emergency room with severe abdominal pain.
The slithery passenger wasnt cooperative, however.
The man did survive his ill-advised experiment, though not without losing part of his colon.
Heres hoping nothing in 2025 comes anywhere close to the baffling strangeness of these two incidents.
Eh, who am I kidding: the weirder, the better.
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