Illustration from a United States patent for an ornate curette (Michelson, 1988)

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 It has been replaced by vacuum aspiration over the last decade.

Curettage is also employed to treat periodontally affected teeth. Curette instruments may be used to remove granulated and infected or inflamed tissue around the involved teeth. Removal of the granulation tissue via curettage promotes healing of the periodontal tissues and a reduction in pocket depths around the teeth.

[edit] See also

• dilation and curettage

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