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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2015 Jul 17.
Published in final edited form as: J Am Coll Surg. 2011 Apr;212(4):454–462. doi: 10.1016/j.jamcollsurg.2010.12.021

Table 3.

Literature Review on Biopsy Method and Effect on Outcomes for Patients with Melanoma

First author, year Total patients in study, n Excisional biopsies, n Incisional/punch biopsies, n Shave, n Misdiagnosis associated with shave or incisional biopsy Inaccurate micro-staging associated with shave or incisional biopsy
Ng, 20104 2,470 2,127 163 180 OR 16.6, p < 0.001 (punch); OR 2.6, p = 0.02 (shave) OR 5.1, p < 0.01 (punch); OR 2.3, p < 0.01 (shave)
Moore, 200924 139 – – 139 n/a 13% of patients upstaged
Molenkamp, 200712 551 279 84 (109 had narrow excision but negative margins) Unknown n/a n/a
Martin, 200513 2,164 1,130 281 354 n/a n/a
Ng, 20035 138 30 41 67 n/a 88% accurate in determining final Breslow depth
Bong, 200214 761 496 275 n/a n/a n/a
Zager, 2010 (this study) 600 – – 600 n/a 3% upstaged

OR, odds ratio.