A team of surgeons from across Australia including researchers from The University of Western Australia has been awarded more than $780,000 from the Federal Government’s Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) to investigate the causes of surgical infections and train the next generation of surgical researchers. Emergency abdominal surgery is a high risk operation with potentially life-threatening consequences. Infection of wounds is one of the most common complications that occur in up to a quarter of emergency abdominal surgeries. It leads to patient pain, delayed healing, increased hospital stay and sometimes the need for a further operation. The MRFF grant of $782,256 for an Australian clinical trial – called SUNRISE – will be carried out across Australian hospitals and in collaboration with the UK. The randomised controlled trial will assess if a new dressing that uses suction can reduce inflammation from an operation to improve wound healing after emergency surgery. […]