A wound occurs when the integrity of any tissue is compromised (skin breaks, muscle tears, burns, or bone fractures). An act – a gunshot, fall, or surgery, an infectious disease, or an underlying condition can cause a wound.
Surgical Wound classification
Class I (Clean)
An uninfected operative wound in which we encounter no inflammation with no entrance into the respiratory, alimentary, genital, or uninfected urinary tract. Also, clean wounds are primarily closed and, if necessary, drained with closed drainage. Operative incisional wounds that follow non-penetrating (blunt) trauma should be included in this category if they meet the criteria.
Class II (Clean-contaminated)
An operative wound in which the respiratory, alimentary, genital, or urinary tracts are entered under controlled conditions and without unusual contamination. Specifically, operations involving the biliary tract, appendix, vagina, and oropharynx are included in this category, provided no evidence of infection or major break in technique.
Class III (Contaminated)
It includes open, fresh, or accidental wounds. Also, operations with substantial breaks in sterile technique (for example, unbarred cardiac massage) or gross spillage from the gastrointestinal tract, and incisions in which acute, non-purulent inflammation.
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Class IV (Dirty-infected)
It entails old traumatic wounds with retained devitalized tissue and those that involve existing clinical infection or perforated viscera. This definition suggests that the organisms causing postoperative infection were present in the operative field before the operation.
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