the difference between incision and excision of the lymph nodes?
The difference between incision and excision of lymph nodes is very simple. The incision of a lymph node is when the biopsy only takes part of the lymph node during surgery. The excision of the lymph node is when the whole lymph node is removed.
- An incisional biopsy is a procedure in which a small area of tissue is taken to identify the composition (or make-up) of a lesion or abnormality. An excisional biopsy is a more involved procedure where the entire abnormality or area of interest is removed.
- To further clarify this, there are four options for obtaining a tissue sample.
- A fine needle aspiration is the simplest, least invasive test and uses the smallest needle to simply remove cells from the abnormality. This is not always adequate to obtain a diagnosis, depending on the area to be biopsied.
- A core needle biopsy removes not only cells, but also a small amount of the surrounding tissue. This provides additional information to assist in the identification of the lesion.
- An incisional biopsy takes out even more surrounding tissue. It takes out some of the abnormality, but not all. The doctor will slice into the lesion and remove only a portion of it. If the lesion is found to be cancerous, further surgery may be needed to remove the whole abnormality.
- An excisional biopsy generally removes the entire area in question.
- If the lesion of interest is large, an incisional biopsy may be performed to make sure the cosmetic outcome following the procedure is suitable. Alternatively, if the abnormality is small, an excisional biopsy may be performed. Ultimately, your doctor will decide what is most appropriate for you based on the location and size of the lesion and the suspected diagnosis.
- While a core needle biopsy can be performed on most parts of the body, incisional and excisional biopsies are most often used for lesions involving the breast, skin, muscles, and lymph nodes.
