Posted 06.05.2012 at 4:04 pm
8 Comments
Bladder Burst
BioPhoto Associates
Only under special circumstances. “I mean, it doesn’t just happen to any Joe Schmo walking down the street holding his urine too long,” says Scott Eggener, a urologist at the University of Chicago. “But for someone who has had major surgery or cancer or had radiation in his bladder, or whose bladder had been removed and we make them a new bladder out of intestine, then yes—those are situations where the bladder can rupture.”
These situations can be extremely painful. When the bladder bursts, urine generally pours into the abdomen, sometimes requiring an emergency procedure in which surgeons drain the urine with catheters. But usually there’s little risk to holding one’s urine; people will typically pee accidentally before a bladder bursts.
Doctors caution against regularly avoiding urination, however. “People who don’t empty frequently enough may get bladder infections,” says Gerald Timm, a urological researcher at the University of Minnesota. “The bladder’s kind of like a pond. Not draining properly allows bacteria to build up, and that leads to infection.”
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So it is in the realm of possibility, but in day to day reality, typically the answer to this on the edge of our toilet seat question is a "NO".
Thank you PoPSCi, the cosmos may continue, whew...!
Oh, my burning science question fyi@popsci.com, rather than the original article itself, how did that make this picture in the article? Now that is a neat picture and its explanation of how this picture was made would make a good PoPSi article. The clarity and detail is WoWzers!
Associated helpful bladder bursting links:
health.msn.com/health-topics/urinary-health/can-your-bladder-really-burst
www.impactednurse.com/?p=1757
uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080326134404AAJiCfU
www.ehow.com/about_5121314_ruptured-bladder-symptoms.html
Guess this confirms that the Tycho Brahe story I bought for so many years was just an urban legend.
Mythbusters busted this myth a few seasons ago (pun intended).
To put the matter to rest we need a volunteer, a few bottles of beer and a penis clamp.
I find it strange a leaking bladder, leaks up and not down to the legs, unless this person sprung a leak, while they were asleep. If a person was lying on their back, wouldn't that leakage go all around the bladder? The more I consider the picture in this article, the odder it looks.
@Robot:
I do not believe the picture in this article is of a burst bladder. To me, that looks like a picture of urine originating in the kidneys and flowing down the ureters to the bladder.
As for how the picture was made, the fact that it is a functional (vs anatomical) imaging modality coupled with the low resolution and 2D (vs 3D) would suggest that it was made with planar scintigraphy. This imaging modality utilizes a radioisotope to tag a process in the body to image. I am not familiar with the particular isotope used in kidney/bladder imaging, but it would have to be a molecule that is cleared easily. Most people have at least heard of barium isotopes used to image the colon; this looks like the same principles applied to the kidney.