Inaugural professorial lecture: the progression of trauma wound care. Why delay wound closure?

Despite advances in wound management in recent years, systemic wound infection remains the most common cause of death in patients with large trauma wounds; therefore, it is important that the wound is closed as soon as it is safe, not before and not too long after. However, all surgeons know that many acute trauma wounds cannot be safely closed on the day of injury, so how to judge when this critical window is open? In his inaugural lecture as Professor of Wound Study at Birmingham City University's Tissue Viability Practice Development Unit, Lt Col Professor Steven Jeffery addresses this issue.