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Excision

Excision means “to remove as if by cutting”.

  • In surgery, an excision (or resection) is the complete removal of an organ or a tumor, as opposed to a biopsy. An “excisional biopsy” (sometimes called a “tumorectomy”) is the removal of a tumor with a minimum of healthy tissue. It is therefore an excision rather than a biopsy.
  • It is the French term for female genital cutting and can be used as an euphemism.

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