Coughing causes this man’s ribs to break

For some people, a cough is often seen as a minor thing. However, coughing can cause something fatal, including broken ribs.

A 54 year old man from Italy was experiencing this. His ribs were broken due to persistent coughing.

Launch detikHealththe man was indeed a heavy smoker. Several years ago, he also had an accident and his condition was bad.

Several times, the man was also treated in the emergency room of the hospital in 2023. In September 2023, he felt unbearable pain.

Later, based on X-ray results, the 8th rib on the left side of his body was broken. This creates a gap about 2.5 cm long in the middle of the bone.

The patient also had a persistent cough. This causes pieces of bone tissue that have become a frozen mass.

The report was made by surgeons in Milan in the American Journal of Case Reports. He said that he first discovered that the patient was complaining of pain with pain on the left flank due to a persistent cough.

The mass of material was pressing on his intercostal nerves, which run along his ribs, chest and abdomen.

This condition forced the surgeon to operate by making a small incision in his chest to remove the extra bone formation.

This is done to release pressure from the nerves and reduce the pain the patient is experiencing. Then the team of doctors inserted a thin metal rod about 7 cm long that was scraped or splinted, to hold the broken ribs together.

“The scan revealed a non-union of the 8th left rib fracture. After medical treatment failed, we proposed a surgical approach with the aim of removing the tissue that includes the non- union, releasing the nerve, and strengthening the bone stump,” wrote the doctor in his statement.

“The pain disappeared immediately after the surgery. The patient was discharged within 24 hours. At a 6-week follow-up, he was still asymptomatic, and a new CT scan confirmed the correct position of the splint,” he continued.

The patient’s condition improved and there was no need for pain medication. The patient takes opioids prescribed by the doctor.

Another study showed that the patient had a vitamin D deficiency, so his bones were weak and it caused osteoporosis or bone disease.

This article has appeared on detikHealth, read in full here

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