Wound Shock: A History of Its Study and Treatment by Military Surgeons

ABSTRACT The treatment of wounds has received considerable attention from the time of the Trojan War. However, it was not until the American Civil War that shock was described as an entity distinct from the wounds themselves and that efforts were directed at more than just treatment of the wound. The need for fluid resuscitation in the treatment of hemorrhagic shock was first recognized in the Spanish American War, as was the association of sepsis with shock. World War I showed the need for blood in the treatment of “wound shock,” a lesson that had to be relearned in World War II through bitter experience. Studies in the Korean War described the concept of disseminated intravascular coagulation and multiple organ failure, and the existence of disseminated intravascular coagulation was confirmed by studies in Vietnam. The treatment of hemorrhagic shock is now very effective, but the treatment of traumatic and septic shock remains unsatisfactory.