14 DAY TRIAL // A recent report in the journal Visual Diagnosis of Emergency Medicine details the case of a young man in Maine whose bladder burst all of a sudden when he plunged into a local lake.
The man, whose identity is not revealed in the case report, was out boating with friends. When he jumped into a water, his bladder was pretty much full, seeing as he'd been drinking the entire day.
Apparently, the 24-year-old's bladder burst the moment he hit the water. This happened because, being full, it couldn't withstand the force of the impact and so its wall gave out and ruptured.
In an interview with Live Science, Dr. Bradley Gill with the Cleveland Clinic explained that it was “the equivalent of throwing a water balloon on the sidewalk.”
The specialist further explained that, had the man not been drinking, he probably wouldn't have jumped in the water with a full bladder. Being inebriated, however, he didn't even realize he had to go to the bathroom.
“When you drink alcohol, it causes the body to produce more urine than usual, so that can potentially contribute to the bladder being full, but drunk people don't always realize they have to pee,” said Bradley Gill.
Doctors had to operate on the young man
Shortly after his bladder burst when he jumped into the water, the 24-year-old man started experiencing severe abdominal pain. He was rushed to hospital, where a CT (computed tomography) scan revealed a rupture in the organ's curved top.
What's more, medical experts at the Maine Medical Center in Portland, where the young man received treatment, say that, when a catheter was inserted into his body, urine mixed with blood started dripping.
Since the rupture in the 24-year-old's bladder was significant, doctors decided to operate on him. They managed to stitch up the organ and, eventually, the patient made a full recovery and was released from hospital.
Usually, the bladder is a fairly resistant organ. When full and therefore under pressure, however, it is quite vulnerable to hits and other outside forces.
Doctors say that, of the bladder ruptures documented on a yearly basis, around 35% to 40% occur when too much pressure is placed on the organ's wall, causing it to break.