# Excision, incision, biopsy

<mark style="color:$danger;">**This Editorial Guide is used for Education Purposes Only. It is used in the Authoring Courses and Certifications. It is based on the January 2026 Editorial Guide.**</mark>

Excision, incision, and biopsy may be difficult to interpret. They are organized according to the following general structure.

## Excision

Organ excision. Any excisional act involving the organ; usually *(organ)-ectomy,* or similar, is a synonym. *Organ excision* , itself, does not specify whether it is complete or partial, nor does it specify what is excised.

For example,

* 23968004 |Excision of colon (procedure)| or one of the synonyms, Colectomy

## Complete or total excision

Concepts may include *complete* or *total* to indicate complete removal or excision of the organ.

For example,

* 63016009 |Total resection of urinary bladder (procedure)| with the synonyms Complete cystectomy, Total excision of bladder, and etc

## Partial excision

Concepts may include *partial* to indicate removal or excision of part of the organ. Specifying *partial excision* does not differentiate between a partial excision *of* or *from* the organ.

For example,

* 708929007 |Laparoscopic partial excision of kidney using robotic assistance (procedure)| or one of the synonyms, Partial nephrectomy, laparoscopic with robot assistance

## Lesion or tissue

Concepts may indicate removal of a lesion or tissue; excision of a lesion or tissue from an organ may be complete or partial.

For example,

* 72106008 |Excision of lesion of liver (procedure)|
* 69031006 |Excision of breast tissue (procedure)|

{% hint style="success" %}
**Lesion Modelling**

The word *lesion* can be used to refer to both structural and functional abnormalities. If a *procedure* refers to a lesion that is a structural abnormality, then model with a 405816004 |Procedure morphology (attribute)| of << 52988006 |Lesion (morphologic abnormality)|.
{% endhint %}

## Excision(al) biopsy

Excisional biopsy of organ generally means that *tissue* or a *lesion* or *suspected lesion* is necessarily entirely excised, not the entire organ. It is a partial excision of (from) the organ. This is true even when small polyps are removed.

For example,

* 116237003 |Excisional biopsy of lesion of rectum by transanal approach (procedure)|

## Incision

An organ incision is any incisional act involving the organ; usually (*organ*)-*otomy*, or similar, is a synonym

For example,

* 45558009 |Incision of lung (procedure)| or the synonym, pneumonotomy

{% hint style="warning" %}
Any *incision* procedure that does not necessarily involve division (as opposed to ordinarily does not involve division) remains primitive without an available negation operator
{% endhint %}

## Incisional biopsy

Incisional biopsy of organ; incisional biopsy of lesion of organ; usually with open approach. Incisional biopsy of \[organ] necessarily implies incision and removal of a lesion, and is by definition a *partial excision*, since the site is the organ, and an excision is done, but the entire lesion is not necessarily removed.

For example,

* 237378001 |Incisional biopsy of breast (procedure)|

{% hint style="info" %}
A *biopsy* may not be an excision.

For example

* 445713002 |Brush biopsy of endocervix (procedure)|
* 48426002 |Fine needle biopsy of kidney (procedure)|
  {% endhint %}

{% hint style="success" %}
**Modeling Biopsies**

Biopsies, like other removal procedures, may have two direct objects, the *morphology* and the *site*. It is permissible to use Procedure site - Direct (attribute) for biopsies, even if subtypes might have a direct object that is a morphology.
{% endhint %}

<a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScTmbZIf0UEQwYDkY27EEWBkaiYkHSbR0_9DmFrMLXoQLyL7Q/viewform?usp=pp_url&#x26;entry.1767247133=SCT+Editorial+Guide&#x26;entry.670899847=Excision%2C%20incision%2C%20biopsy" class="button primary">Provide Feedback</a>


---

# Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation

If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question.

Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter:

```
GET https://docs.snomed.org/education/snomed-ct-education-editorial-guide/readme/authoring/domain-specific-modeling/procedure/index-2/excision-incision-biopsy.md?ask=<question>
```

The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.

Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.