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SEER Inquiry System - Report
Produced: 02/06/2026 10:14 AM
Question 20091063
Inquiry Details
References:
2007 SEER Manual, C-76 - C-78. Appendix C
Question:
CS Lymph Nodes--Head and Neck: How is this field coded when a positive neck FNA is followed by a neck dissection that contains one of seventeen positive lymph nodes? See Discussion.
Discussion:
The primary site is the right tongue. The patient underwent FNA of a right neck mass that was positive for squamous cell carcinoma. Subsequent right modified radical neck dissection showed one out of seventeen nodes positive for metastatic carcinoma. For head and neck primaries, the CS LN codes 10-19 represent a single positive ipsilateral regional node. Codes 20-29 represent multiple positive ipsilateral nodes.
Answer:
This answer was provided in the context of CSv1 coding guidelines. The response may not be used after your registry database has been converted to CSv2.If the neck dissection included the area of the positive FNA, count only the positive nodes from the dissection. Avoid double-counting a positive node for both an FNA and a dissection.
In the unlikely event that the dissection did not include the area of the positive FNA, add one positive node to the count from the dissection.
This instruction supersedes previous instructions.
Cancer Site Category:
Head & Neck
Data Item Category:
N/A
Other Category:
N/A
Year:
2009
