Year: 2015
Type: article
Abstract: A wound can be defined as the disturbance of the skin’s \nnormal structure and function and the soft tissue beneath it.1 \nWound complications are major contributors to both early and \nlate postoperative morbidity.2 It can cause significant physical \nand emotional distress to both patients and the treating \nphysician. Most surgeons will agree that wound \ncomplications can be challenging to treat and everything \npossible should be done to prevent it from happening. \nWounds are classified as clean-, clean-contaminated-, \ncontaminated- or dirty wounds. Clean wounds can be \ndescribed as an incision into tissue, other than hollow \nviscera, in which neither infection nor inflammation is \npresent followed by primary closure afterwards. Cleancontaminated \nwounds result from intentional entry into the \nrespiratory, gastro-intestinal, genital or urinary tracts without \nremarkable contamination. Contaminated wounds can be \ncharacterized by unintentional entry into a hollow viscus, a \nmajor disruption in sterility, or encountering areas of \nnonpurulent inflammation. Dirty wounds include old wounds \nwith residual devitalised tissue, perforated viscera or current \nclinical infection.
Authors: Matthys Cornelis van Aardt, A. Mouton
Language: English
Subfield: Surgery
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1149205823