Health Dictionary
Reliable, easy-to-read patient information on common medical conditions — written in plain language, free of jargon, and grounded in current evidence. Browse the most frequent diagnoses, understand what they mean for everyday life, and learn which steps and questions help you have a focused conversation with your doctor.
Curettage
Introduction
Overview
Overview
Curettage, in surgery, is the use of a curette to remove tissue by scraping or scooping. It may be used to obtain a biopsy of a mass to determine if it is a granuloma, neoplasm, or some other tumor. It is often employed prior to definitive excisional surgery to more precisely delineate the extent of a tumor. In selected cases, curettage may be employed to treat certain ‘low risk’ skin cancers such as superficial basal cell carcinoma. Rarely, curettage may be employed palliatively to debulk masses.
Curettage is also a declining method of abortion. It has been replaced by vacuum aspiration over the last decade.
Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]