surgical scraping, usually of the lining of a body cavity, to clean it of foreign matter, to remove tumours or other growths or diseased tissue (as in the curetting out of diseased bone tissue in osteomyelitis), or to obtain a sample of tissue for diagnosis. Typically, the term refers to the scraping of the wall of the uterus to obtain tissue for microscopic examination to determine the cause of abnormal uterine bleeding. Curettage is performed with the curette (or curet), a scoop- or hoe-shaped instrument, scalpel-sized, which may be blunt or sharp.