RESUMEN
BACKGROUND: Since its inception, the man suffered injuries through falls, fire, drowning and interpersonal conflict. While the mechanism and frequency of different specific injuries has changed passing of millennia, trauma remains an important cause of mortality and morbidity in modern society. Although the war is presented as one of the four knights of the Apocalypse, we must emphasize the important developments of surgical experience during war. The purpose of this study is to highlight the lessons learned during the history and how they changed the modern trauma care. METHOD: Systematic review of English language literature using computer searching of Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health International MEDLINE database using PubMed Entre interface. RESULTS: The first historical record of a trauma medical care is 3605 years ago. Over the past decades, one of the most important changes in trauma patient care is the selective nonoperative management (SNOM) of significant abdominal visceral injuries. SNOM was first described in 1968, for splenic trauma, by Upadhyay and Simpson. It was accepted much later for liver injuries. Beginning from 1960 - 1970, SNOM was introduced for abdominal stab wounds. Exploratory laparotomy remains the standard approach for abdominal gunshot wounds until 1990, when centers from United States and South Africa first reported cases successfully managed nonoperatively. CONCLUSIONS: The trauma surgery has evolved continuously over the centuries, according to more and more severe modem injuries.