[Principles of wound treatment]

New techniques and devices have revolutionized the treatment of wounds during the last years. For the treatment of wounds we have nowadays a great variety of new gadgets, tools and methods. Complex wounds require specific skills, given the fact that a great number of different promising methods are on the market to enable an optimal wound management. Well educated "wound experts" are required to overcome the problems of very complicated and chronic wound problems. The importance of an interdisciplinary team increases while facing the problems of special wound disorders such as a diabetic food, food ulcers or the problems of open abdomen in case of severe peritonitis. In this overview the main principles of modern wound treatment are outlined. The aim of this article is to present a good summary of wound judgement and treatment for the practioner. Increasingly important is it to point out the situation of complexe wounds which should be judgded and treated with the help of a "wound expert".