In contrast, a blunt or non-penetrating trauma may have some deep damage, but the overlying skin is not necessarily broken and the wound is still closed to the outside environment.

The severity of the injury varies widely depending on the body parts involved, the characteristics of the penetrating object, and the amount of energy transmitted to the tissues.

[6] Low-velocity items, such as knives and swords, are usually propelled by a person's hand, and usually do damage only to the area that is directly contacted by the object.

[7] The space left by tissue that is destroyed by the penetrating object as it passes through forms a cavity; this is called permanent cavitation.

[8] The temporary cavity is the radial stretching of tissue around the bullet's wound track, which momentarily leaves an empty space caused by high pressures surrounding the projectile that accelerate material away from its path.

Penetrating head trauma can cause cerebral contusions and lacerations, intracranial hematomas, pseudoaneurysms, and arteriovenous fistulas.

[15] Fractures of the ribs commonly produce penetrating chest trauma when sharp bone ends pierce tissues.

Penetrating abdominal trauma (PAT) typically arises from stabbings, ballistic injuries (shootings), or industrial accidents.

A greater understanding of mechanisms of injury, outcomes from surgery, improved imaging and interventional radiology has led to more conservative operative strategies being adopted.

[2] Sometimes before an X-ray is performed on a person with penetrating trauma from a projectile, a paper clip is taped over entry and exit wounds to show their location on the film.

[2] Surgery may be required; impaled objects are secured into place so that they do not move and cause further injury, and they are removed in an operating room.

[2] If the location of the injury is not obvious, a surgical operation called an exploratory laparotomy may be required to look for internal damage to the organs in the abdomen.

[18] Before the 17th century, medical practitioners poured hot oil into wounds in order to cauterize damaged blood vessels, but the French surgeon Ambroise Paré challenged the use of this method in 1545.

[2] Due in part to the lack of sterile technique in hospitals, infection was the leading cause of death for wounded soldiers.