the difference between excision vs extirpation vs enucleation?

[ketap]

hi..i am learning more about surgery right now..and i really need to ask about surgical terms..
what is the difference between enucleation vs excision vs extirpation?

can u please give an example for each of them..i am struggling to understand this because i can't find about this in any textbooks..thx u so much..

warm regards,Ketap🙂

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[cpants]

They are all pretty similar, and usually used in context of removal of a mass. Excision and extirpation are basically synonyms, though I never hear anyone use the word extirpation to be honest. "Extirpative therapy" I have heard; that usually means surgical excision of the tumor in some fashion as opposed to chemo, radiation, etc. Enucleation is also removal of a mass, but is a more specific technique in which minimal margin is taken -- ie. just the cancer is removed. Enucleation can also mean removal of the eye.

For kidney cancer example:
Nephrectomy or partial nephrectomy would both be considered excision or extirpation.
Enucleation of a renal mass is a subtype of partial nephrectomy where the mass itself is just cored out leaving no margins.

 

[caffeinemia]

They are all pretty similar, and usually used in context of removal of a mass. Excision and extirpation are basically synonyms, though I never hear anyone use the word extirpation to be honest. "Extirpative therapy" I have heard; that usually means surgical excision of the tumor in some fashion as opposed to chemo, radiation, etc. Enucleation is also removal of a mass, but is a more specific technique in which minimal margin is taken -- ie. just the cancer is removed. Enucleation can also mean removal of the eye.

For kidney cancer example:
Nephrectomy or partial nephrectomy would both be considered excision or extirpation.
Enucleation of a renal mass is a subtype of partial nephrectomy where the mass itself is just cored out leaving no margins.

I think of excision for biopsies and cutaneous malignancies... ie melanoma, scc, bcc... or benign lesions.
I think of extirpation as a general description of surgical removal of malignancies.
I think of enucleation as shelling something out..... ie removing the eyeball from it's orbital shell. A tumor from inflammatory or necrotic rind or whatever. (Ie removing the nucleus from a cell).

Also, poster above sounds like a urologist. Those guys never stop talking about cancerrrr

 

[ketap]

hi, thx u for the responses..so,when writing down a procedure description(ex.lipoma), i can use either "lipoma excision" or "lipoma extirpation" because they are interchangeable?
oh ya, i also want to confirm..so, enucleation is also an excision but removing only the diseased mass and doesn't include any of the healthy part of the organ involved?is that
what u mean?thx u
regards,Ketap

 

[vhawk]

So basically you are a medical coder or something? There are good forums out there for assistance with cpt codes and things like that

 

[caffeinemia]

hi, thx u for the responses..so,when writing down a procedure description(ex.lipoma), i can use either "lipoma excision" or "lipoma extirpation" because they are interchangeable?
oh ya, i also want to confirm..so, enucleation is also an excision but removing only the diseased mass and doesn't include any of the healthy part of the organ involved?is that
what u mean?thx u
regards,Ketap

Sone correct me on this, but I just feel like extirpation is usually reserved for malignancies. I think lipoma excision is reasonable, as it's commonly a benign mass...