Are modern wound dressings a clinical and cost-effective alternative to the use of gauze?

In the 1960s two landmark studies established the concept of moist wound healing and heralded the development of modern dressings. However, despite the publication of a number of systematic reviews, there is no consensus on which dressings are most clinically and cost effective. This is due in part to the difficulty of conducting large randomised controlled trials (RCTs) as patients with wounds are not a heterogeneous group and often have complex underlying pathologies. It is also ethically questionable to conduct trials with dressings such as gauze that fail to provide optimal healing conditions.