[Tumor biopsy--a trivial matter or a basic procedure?].

The surgeon is frequently faced with the task of bioptic sampling of tissues from patients with tumourous diseases. The importance of such frequently minor procedures is incorrectly underrated. The importance of biopsy is in the foreground in particular at present at a time of individualization of treatment of malignant tumours, based on the development of new diagnostic-therapeutic methods. The bioptic specimen is the fundamental link in the basic decision--benignity or malignity--and also a unique source for assessment of prognostic and predictive factors on the basis of which we select the optimal therapeutic procedure. Contrary to current histopathological examination where the principles of correct collection of tissues specimens are generally known, in recent years the importance of molecular examinations is increasing where the surgeon must respect certain different principles to make the sampling successful. The authors working in a department of surgical oncology along with authors from specialized laboratories formulate rules of correct implementation of biopsies and transport of biological material in conjunction with recent laboratory methods, and based on examples of their own practice, they demonstrate how the initial approach of the surgeon can influence in a decisive way the correct diagnosis and therapeutic procedure in oncological patients.