| Report | Question ID | Question | Discussion | Answer | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
20200049 | Summary Stage 2018/EOD 2018--Lymphoma Orbital Adnexa: What is the correct Summary Stage 2018 (SS2018) for the site/histology Orbit, NOS (C696), 9699/3? In SEER*RSA, Extent of Disease (EOD) Primary Tumor references code 7 (Distant), whereas SS2018 assigns code 2 (Regional)? See Discussion. |
We received an edit error in SEER*DMS on the following site/histology (Orbit, NOS (C696)/9699/3) that involved an incorrect staging code being assigned to SS2018. The staging language is identical in AJCC, EOD and SS2018. SEER*RSA notes that SS2018 should be coded distant, but in the SS2018 manual, this language is noted Regional. Staging language is: Orbital adnexal lymphoma AND extraorbital lymphoma extending beyond the orbit to adjacent structures--Bone, Brain, Maxillofacial sinuses |
To clear this edit of the derived Summary Stage (based on EOD) and the manually assigned Summary Stage (based on Summary Stage 2018), assign the manually assigned Summary Stage to 7. For this particular case, EOD Primary Tumor 700 (which is correct based on the information received) derives Distant; however, for Summary Stage 2018, this description is under Code 2 for Regional by direct extension. This is an error. For 2022, Summary Stage for Lymphoma Ocular Adnexa description under Code 2 (Regional by direct extension) will be moved to Distant. No changes will be done to EOD. |
2020 |
|
|
20200044 | Reportability/Histology--Eye: Is conjunctival intraepithelial neoplasia, moderate to severe, reportable and if so, what are the histology and behavior codes? See Discussion. |
Left Eye Conjunctiva, biopsy (01/23/2018): Conjunctival intraepithelial neoplasia moderate to severe. Is intraepithelial neoplasia moderate to severe the same as coding 8077/2? |
Report this case as 8077/2. Our expert pathologist consultant reviewed this and confirmed it is reportable. Here is some of his rationale. The pathologist's designation as "moderate to severe" indicates there are areas of 2/3 of full thickness epithelial change, so the criteria to report are met. |
2020 |
|
|
20200019 | Diagnostic confirmation--Heme and Lymphoid Neoplasms--Lymphoma: Is Diagnostic Confirmation "5" for Hematopoietic Neoplasms appropriate for this case? There appears to be no conclusive histologic diagnosis (Neoplasm, suggestive of lymphoma) and only the IHC/flow cytometry issued a conclusive diagnosis. See Discussion. |
10/4/2018 Frozen Section Diagnosis: Brain tissue with atypical cells and inflammatory cells, defer to permanents for further evaluation. Note: Tissue for flow cytometry is submitted. Final Diagnosis: Preliminary Diagnosis: Brain Tumor, Biopsy: Neoplasm, suggestive of lymphoma (see comment). Comment: The tumor exhibits nuclear atypia and increased mitosis. The tumor cells are immunologically positive for LCA and with very high ki67 labeling index. GFAP and synaptophysin are not expressed by tumor cells. The above suggests a lympho-proliferative process. This case is forwarded to the hematopathology service of this department for further evaluation. The final diagnosis report will be issued by the hematopathologist as an addendum. Supp Rpt Add Addendum Diagnosis: The brain biopsy showed brain tissue large lymphoid cell infiltrate. Additional immunohistochemical stains are performed. The large cells are positive for CD20, BCL2, BCL6 (subset), MUM1, and CD30, negative for CD3, CD5, and CD10. Staining for c-MYC is negative. Ki-67 positive large cells are approximately 18%. EBER is strongly positive by ISH. Diagnosis: Brain lesion, biopsy: EBV+ Diffuse Large B-cell Lymphoma. Addendum Comment: The concurrent flow cytometric study showed monoclonal lambda-positive B-cells without out CD5 and CD10 expression, consistent with B-cell lymphoma. |
Assign Diagnostic Confirmation as code 3, positive histology plus positive immunophenotyping. The biopsy diagnosis demonstrated EBV+ diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, with positive staining as indicated in the Hematopoietic and Lymphoid Neoplasm Database.The information received from the additional studies confirm the more specific diagnosis. |
2020 |
|
|
20200057 | Histology--Lung: Is there a better code for SMARCA4-deficient malignant neoplasms than 8000/3 that could be used especially given its aggressive nature? This term is not included in the Lung Solid Tumor Rules or ICD-O-3.1 and 3.2. See Discussion. |
Per Mayo consulting pathologist, the final diagnosis on this right lung biopsy is: SMARCA4-deficient malignant neoplasm (see Comment). Comment: Sections show a poorly-differentiated malignant neoplasm without any apparent glandular, squamous, or stromal differentiation. The tumor near totally replaces the underlying lung tissue without recognizable underlying alveolar parenchyma. Immunohistochemical stains performed at Mayo Clinic (Oscar keratin, INSM1, NUT, S100, desmin and BRG1 protein encoded by SMARCA4 gene) demonstrate that the malignant cells are positive for Oscar keratin (rare cells only), synaptophysin (weak/patchy) and p63 (focal) while negative for the remaining antibodies tested. Of note, SMARCA4 stain is negative in the tumor cells. Thus, this tumor can be categorized as a SMARCA4-deficient malignant neoplasm, which is known to be an aggressive malignancy, likely represent a SMARCA4-deficient thoracic sarcoma, a recently described entity. SMARCA4-deficient carcinomas in the lung have been reported to be mostly adenocarcinomas or squamous cell carcinomas, which would not fit for this case. Please refer to a paper published by our group (Sauter JL et al. Mod Pathol 2017;30:1422-32. |
Answer updated August 2025 Assign code 8044/3. WHO Classification of Thoracic Tumors, 5th edition, classifies SMARCA4-deficient malignant neoplasm as Thoracic SMARCA4-deficient undifferentiated tumor (SMARCA4-UT). |
2020 |
|
|
20200038 | Solid Tumor Rules (2018)/Histology--Lung: Can the stated histology from a biomarker/immunohistochemistry (IHC) report be used for coding histology? See Discussion. |
Example: Diagnosis is made on liver core biopsy path showing Metastatic carcinoma, poorly-differentiated, consistent with lung primary. Diagnosis Comment notes: Carcinoma cells are positive for CK7 and TTF-1, negative for CK20. Subsequent immunohistochemistry report for PD-L1 testing states Liver: Metastatic adenocarcinoma consistent with lung primary. Interpretation: no PD-L1 expression. IHC/Biomarker testing is often performed to determine treatment type, but it seems like some of the biomarkers for treatment planning are also histology specific. The Solid Tumor Rules do not address the use of biomarkers reports in the histology coding instructions. |
Code this case to adenocarcinoma 8140/3. Biomarkers are often reported separately, not as part of the addendum, and can be used to code histology. This applies to cases diagnosed by metastatic site only. |
2020 |
|
|
20200060 | First Course Treatment/Reportability: Are there situations for which a case with a class-of-case code in the 30's should be reported to the central registry? We know these are not reportable to the CoC, but should they be reported to the central registry? See Discussion. |
Example: 3/22/2017-26 year old white female seen in the emergency room with abdominal pain. Patient was diagnosed about a month ago with breast cancer. Impression: menstrual pain. In this example the patient is newly diagnosed with breast cancer, but the second hospital does not treat or diagnose the patient; pain management for a separate condition is received only. Is this patient reported due to the history of active disease? |
Work with your central registry to determine which cases they require you to report. In general, any case still undergoing first course of treatment, even if not given at your facility, should be reported to the central registry. Many central registries will appreciate knowing that the patient was seen at your facility to update date last seen and other data items. |
2020 |
|
|
20200051 | Primary site/Unknown and ill-defined site--Melanoma: What is the primary site for a case of metastatic melanoma with an unknown primary site? See Discussion. |
A patient had posterior cervical lymphadenopathy status post biopsy and subsequent lymph node dissection showed metastatic melanoma in 2018. Workup showed no skin lesions or primary site. Final diagnosis is melanoma of unknown primary (unknown if cutaneous or non-cutaneous). Should C760 be used as the primary site for this case since the histology codes of 8700-8790 are included in the Cervical Lymph Nodes and Unknown Primary Tumors of the Head and Neck schema in SEER*RSA? |
Code primary site C449. C449 is the default primary site code for melanoma of unknown primary site. C760 should not be assigned for this case. Updates will be made to SEER*RSA to remove the melanoma histology codes from the Cervical Lymph Nodes and Unknown Primary Tumors of the Head and Neck schema. |
2020 |
|
|
20200006 | Reportability--Retina: Is a diagnosis of retinal astrocytoma reportable? See Discussion. |
There is no specific ICD-O-3 code for a which resulted in abstractors assigning the malignant astrocytoma, NOS code. These lesions were previously called but we are seeing the new terminology more frequently. |
Report retinal astrocytoma. The WHO Classification of Tumors of the Eye, 4th edition, lists astrocytoma, NOS as 9400/3 with astrocytic hamartoma of the retina as a synonym. You may receive a site/type edit (IF25) which can be overridden. The changes in terminology, codes, etc. proposed in WHO 4th Ed Eye book were implemented for cases diagnosed 1/1/2018 forward. Apply this to retina astrocytomas and do not accession cases diagnosed with this histology prior to 1/1/2018. |
2020 |
|
|
20200029 | Systemic/Surgery Sequence: The note associated with code 4 in Systemic Treatment/Surgery Sequence in the 2018 SEER Manual says: Code 4 is intended for situations with at least two episodes or courses of systemic therapy. Does this mean two different types of systemic therapy before and after surgery? See Discussion. |
For example, chemotherapy and immunotherapy administered first, followed by surgery, then immunotherapy and hormone therapy after surgery. Or is code 4 used for two administrations of chemotherapy before surgery and two more courses after surgery? |
Assign code 4 for the example you describe. Code 4 also applies to cases with one course of chemotherapy before surgery and another course after surgery. |
2020 |
|
|
20200015 | Tumor Size--Clinical--Breast: Does information from any type of biopsy take precedence over an imaging report? See Discussion. |
For example, a patient has a 2.6 cm breast tumor on MRI; a core biopsy measuring 0.7 cm is positive for infiltrating duct carcinoma. Rule #1 states "Use the largest measurement of the primary tumor from physical exam, imaging, or other diagnostic procedures before any form of treatment." However, Rule #9 seems to imply that size from an "incisional biopsy" takes precedence over imaging, even though it is known to be less than the entire tumor in size. |
We do not recommend using the size from a core biopsy for clinical tumor size. A core biopsy does not necessarily obtain enough tissue to know the actual tumor size. Since there is imaging for this patient, it is preferable to record clinical tumor size from the imaging report in this case. The instructions will be clarified in the next revision of the SEER manual. |
2020 |
Home
