The removal of living tissue from the body for diagnostic examination is known as what?

• A. HIPAA
• B. Biopsy
• C. Aerobic/anaerobic culture
• D. Gram stain

Answer: (B)

Removing living tissue for diagnostic examination is called a biopsy. This term specifically describes obtaining tissue or cells to examine under a microscope, helping to diagnose conditions like cancer, infections, or inflammatory diseases. It can be done in different ways, such as with a needle, by taking part of a lesion, or by removing the whole lesion. The other terms don’t fit: HIPAA relates to patient privacy, aerobic/anaerobic culture aims to grow microbes to identify infections, and Gram stain is a staining technique used to classify bacteria, not to obtain tissue.