Impact of Biopsy Technique on Clinically Important Outcomes for Cutaneous Melanoma: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

ABSTRACT: We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to examine the relationship between the type of biopsy technique employed in the diagnosis of cutaneous melanoma and 4 clinically important outcomes: melanoma-specific mortality, all-cause mortality, Breslow tumor depth, or melanoma recurrence. Our database was obtained by searching PubMed, Ovid MEDLINE, EMBASE, the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, and the Cochrane Library from inception until December 6, 2019. Studies were identified that compared biopsy techniques used to diagnose cutaneous melanoma with any of our study outcomes. We included 7 observational studies for our meta-analysis after screening 3231 titles and abstracts. Pooled data identified a significantly higher all-cause mortality in the punch biopsy group (risk rat

SUBMITTER: Shellenberger RA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7411171 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature