The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to compare the occurrence of tissue artifacts in punch and scalpel biopsies of oral and maxillofacial lesions.

Electronic searches were conducted in four databases (PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science and Ovid). Study selection, data extraction, and quality assessment of the included articles were performed independently by two authors. An evaluation of the strength of the evidence (GRADE) and meta-analysis were conducted. Odds ratio and confidence intervals (CI) were provided.

After the removal of duplicates, 466 references were identified. Four studies evaluating artifacts, such as crush, fragmentation, splits, hemorrhage, curling, and orientation artifacts and also those induced by improper surgical removal, were included. Specimens obtained using scalpel biopsy were 2.98 times more likely (CI=1.53–5.80) to present crushes and 12.36 times more likely (CI=2.64–57.83) to present splits than specimens procured using punch biopsy. Scalpel biopsies were also 2.40 times more likely to present fragmentation than punch biopsies (CI=1.01–5.72). No significant differences between scalpel and punch biopsies were found concerning the presence of hemorrhage, curling, or orientation artifacts and those induced by improper surgical removal. After sensitivity analysis, samples obtained from scalpel biopsy were 6.18 times more likely to present hemorrhage than those from a punch biopsy (CI=2.21–17.28). Based on the GRADE evaluation, the confidence in the effect estimate of the sub-group analysis of crush and fragmentation was moderate. For the other subgroup analysis, the confidence was low or very low.

Punch biopsies were less likely to produce artifacts, such as crush, fragmentation, splits, and hemorrhage, than biopsies obtained with a scalpel.