Historically, abdominal trauma was managed nonoperatively with rest and local wound cares. Jean Baptiste Lucien Baudens (1804-1857) was a French military surgeon and performed the first 2 trauma laparotomies. The first patient died but the second survived. Laparotomy in trauma has since evolved, now a life-saving intervention and a fundamental tool in the management of abdominal trauma. Baudens documented these case reports in his 1836 work Clinical Reports of Gun Wounds (Clinique des Plaies D’Armes a Feu). The work of Baudens has been largely unrecognized and underappreciated in the English literature. This manuscript serves as the first translation of this event.
