Due to the trauma severity and variability of clinical situation ranging from lack of cardiac symptoms to the presence of fatal injuries penetrating cardiac injuries are considered to be a major medical problem. The difficult confirmation of the diagnosis and the modest experience of the general surgeons in the diagnostic and therapeutic strategies in patients with penetrating cardiac wounds determine the high level of morbidity and mortality. The analysis and synthesis of the recent data from different trauma centers is necessary for the improvement of the results and the development of the new directions of management of this group of patients. Material and methods. In order to realize the purpose of this article we selected the bibliographic sources from the MEDLINE, PubMed and SpringerLink databases by the following keywords: penetrating cardiac injuries, wounds of the heart, cardiac trauma, pericardiocentesis, cardiorraphy. Data on clinical manifestations, the diagnostic tools and the methods of treatment were collected and processed, the collected data were analyzed, compared and synthesized. Results. After processing the information, according to the search criteria 1579 articles on the penetrating cardiac injuries and their management were found. The final bibliography contains 57 sources which were considered relevant for the development of the subject of this article.Conclusions. The incidence of penetrating cardiac injuries is constantly increasing in modern society due to the increased crime and violence rate. Despite the current technical improvement and the obvious progress in the management of patients with heart wounds, it continues to be an important cause of morbidity and mortality. Therefore, general surgeons are most often involved in resolving penetrating cardiac injuries, the synthesized written information is useful for the treatment of this serious group of trauma patients.