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Report Produced: 12/31/2025 17:59 PM

Report Question ID Question Discussion Answer Year
20110074 First course treatment/Date therapy initiated--Breast: How is the Date of Initiation of Hormone Therapy field coded when a patient undergoes "Tamoxifen blunting" to achieve better MRI imaging after a biopsy but prior to definitive surgery which is followed by adjuvant Tamoxifen therapy? See Discussion. Patients are prescribed two weeks of "Tamoxifen blunting" to achieve better MRI imaging after biopsy confirmation of an ER/PR positive breast carcinoma. The Tamoxifen is subsequently discontinued and the patient has definitive surgery. Following surgery, maintenance Tamoxifen is initiated. Which date should be recorded for the Date of Initiation of Hormone Therapy field? Is it the first date when Tamoxifen blunting started or the post-surgical date when maintenance Tamoxifen is initiated? Use the post-surgical start date of maintenance Tamoxifen to code the Date of Initiation of Hormone Therapy field. The actual hormone treatment begins after surgery when Tamoxifen blunting was performed. The low dose administered prior to surgery does not affect the cancer. 2011
20110075 Primary site--Heme & Lymphoid Neoplasms: How do you code primary site for a case of "leukemia cutis" when the bone marrow exam is negative for involvement with leukemia?

For cases diagnosed 2010 and forward, access the Hematopoietic Database at http://seer.cancer.gov/seertools/hemelymph.

Code the primary site to C421 [bone marrow] per Rule PH30 which states to use the to determine the primary site and histology when rules PH1-PH29 do apply. Leukemia cutis is the term for a leukemic infiltration of the epidermis, the dermis or the subcutis. This infiltration is easily identified as cutaneous lesions, but the primary site is still bone marrow. This is a type of "metastasis" or spread of the leukemia cells. The "conventional" definition for leukemia cutis is the infiltration of skin from a bone marrow primary. See the Hematopoietic & Lymphoid Neoplasm Coding Manual Glossary.

SEER*Educate provides training on how to use the Heme Manual and DB. If you are unsure how to arrive at the answer in this SINQ question, refer to SEER*Educate to practice coding hematopoietic and lymphoid neoplasms. Review the step-by-step instructions provided for each case scenario to learn how to use the application and manual to arrive at the answer provided. https://educate.fhcrc.org/LandingPage.aspx.

 2011
20110077 MP/H Rules/Multiple primaries--Breast: How many primaries are to be reported if different recurrence scores are found on the Oncotype Dx studies performed for multiple tumors in the same breast if the clinician states the patient has two primaries but the pathologist does not address the issue? See Discussion. A patient has two separate lesions in the same quadrant with the same histology. According to the MP/H rules this is a single primary. However, Oncotype Dx studies were performed on both tumors and the DX recurrence was different for each tumor. The medical oncologist states the patient has two primaries. The pathologist does not indicate the number of primaries.

This is a single primary. The only rules used to determine the number of primaries are the MP/H rules for cases diagnosed 2007 or later. Do not use other information such as Oncotype Dx to determine the number of primaries for a patient. Oncotype is used to determine whether the cancer is likely to recur AND whether the cancer would benefit from chemotherapy.

The steps used to arrive at this decision are:

Open the Multiple Primary and Histology Coding Rules manual. Once in the manual, locate the Breast MP rules under one of the three formats (i.e., flowchart, matrix or text).

Start with the MULTIPLE TUMORS module, Rule M4. The rules are intended to be reviewed in consecutive order within the module from Rule M4 to Rule M13. You stop at the first rule that applies to the case you are processing.

The patient has two tumors in the same breast with the same histology. Abstract a single primary for this patient.

2011
20110078 MP/H Rules/Histology--Bladder: What is the histology code for "high-grade urothelial carcinoma, plasmacytoid variant"? See Discussion. Per the MP/H Manual, Urinary Equivalent Terms & Definitions, Table 1, plasmacytoid is a specific type of Urothelial/Transitional Cell Tumor. What is the correct histology, and rule used, when a bladder resection pathology report states, "high-grade urothelial carcinoma, plasmacytoid variant"?

Code the histology to 8082/3 [urothelial carcinoma, plasmacytoid].

The Multiple Primary and Histology Coding Rules Manual is the correct source for coding histology for cases diagnosed 2007 or later. Unfortunately, in this case there is no current rule that directs you appropriately to Table 1 from Rule H7 to find this histology combination. We need to add an example under Rule H7 that instructs you to "See Table 1" for an urothelial carcinoma diagnosis that mentions a more specific cell type (e.g., plasmacytoid). We will add a reference to Table 1 in Rule H7 in the updates to MP/H Rules.

2011
20110079 MP/H Rules/Histology: In the MP/H Manual, where is the documentation indicating "focal" is not a term that can be used to code histology? See Discussion. Example: neuroendocrine carcinoma with focal squamous differentiation. For the purposes of the MP/H rules, the term "focal" is not used to indicate a more specific histology. Terms that may be used to indicate a more specific histology are listed in the relevant histology rules. For example, see Breast histology rule H3. Notice the terms listed in the note for this rule are "type, subtype, predominantly, with features of, major, with ___ differentiation, architecture or pattern." The term "focal" is not included. This concept will be clarified in future revisions to MP/H rules. 2011
20110080 Grade--Kidney, renal pelvis: How is this field coded for a non-invasive high grade papillary urothelial carcinoma of the renal pelvis? See Discussion. Per instructions in the 2010 SEER Manual, Appendix C, Coding Guidelines for Bladder, "Code grade 9 (unknown) for non-invasive urothelial (transitional) tumors." The Coding Guidelines listed under Renal Pelvis, Ureter are only for Kidney [C649]. Do the grade instructions under bladder apply to ALL non-invasive urothelial tumors, or are we to use the kidney grading instructions to code grade for renal pelvis and ureter malignancies? Code grade to 4 [high grade]. Follow the instructions in the main part of the 2010 SEER Manual under the data item Grade (pages 73 - 76). There are no specific instructions for coding grade for renal pelvis. Apply the general instructions in the absence of site-specific instructions. 2011
20110081 MP/H Rules/Histology--Pancreas: What is the correct histology code for pancreatic neoplasia III (PanIN III) for cases diagnosed in 2007 and later?

Code histology for PanIN-III to 8148/2 [Glandular intraepithelial neoplasia, grade III]. The Multiple Primary and Histology Coding Rules Manual is the correct source for coding histology.

For cases diagnosed 2007 or later, the following steps are used to determine the histology code:

Open the Multiple Primary and Histology Coding Rules manual. For a pancreas primary, use the Other Sites Histo rules to determine the histology code because pancreas does not have site specific rules.

Go to the SINGLE TUMOR: IN SITU ONLY module, start at rule H1. Code 8148/2 [Glandular intraepithelial neoplasia, grade III]. There is only one histologic type identified.

In the next version of the MP/H rules, the H22 rule "Code 8148/2 (Glandular intraepithelial neoplasia grade III) for in situ glandular in sites such as the (PAIN III)" will be included under H2 as well. Currently the rule is only in the MULTIPLE TUMORS ABSTRACTED AS A SINGLE PRIMARY module and should also be include under the SINGLE TUMOR: IN SITU only module.

2011
20110082 First course treatment/Other therapy--Skin: How is PUVA [psoralen (P) and long-wave ultraviolet radiation (UVA)] coded when used for skin primaries such as melanoma and mycosis fungoides? Code PUVA as "Other treatment" with Code 1 - Other. We do not have a code specifically for ultraviolet radiation. 2011
20110084 Histology--Heme & Lymphoid Neoplasms: Is histology coded to 9684/3 [malignant lymphoma, diffuse large B-cell, immunoblastic NOS] for a biopsy that reveals "diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, immunoblastic variant"?

For cases diagnosed 2010 and forward, access the Hematopoietic Database at http://seer.cancer.gov/seertools/hemelymph.

Code histology to 9680/3 [diffuse large B-cell lymphoma]. Code 9684/3 [malignant lymphoma, diffuse large B-cell, immunoblastic NOS] is obsolete for cases diagnosed 2010 and later per the Heme DB.

Under the Definitions section in the Heme DB, it states that this is a lymphoma with diffuse proliferation of large neoplastic B lymphoid cells with nuclear size exceeding macrophage nuclei, more than twice size of normal lymphocytes. Normal architecture of node or extranodal tissue replaced in diffuse pattern. Morphologic variants: centroblastic, immunoblastic, plasmablastic, T-cell/histiocyte-rich, anaplastic.

SEER*Educate provides training on how to use the Heme Manual and DB. If you are unsure how to arrive at the answer in this SINQ question, refer to SEER*Educate to practice coding hematopoietic and lymphoid neoplasms. Review the step-by-step instructions provided for each case scenario to learn how to use the application and manual to arrive at the answer provided. https://educate.fhcrc.org/LandingPage.aspx.

2011
20110088

Chemotherapy/Neoadjuvant treatment: Should neoadjuvant chemotherapy be coded for an incidental second primary discovered at the time of surgery? If so, how is the diagnosis date coded? See Discussion.

The patient had neoadjuvant chemotherapy for rectal carcinoma. An AP resection revealed an incidental second primary intramucosal carcinoma in adenomatous polyp in the descending colon. Is the chemotherapy coded as therapy for the intramucosal carcinoma of the descending colon?

Record the neoadjuvant therapy only for the first primary and do not record the neoadjuvant therapy for the incidental new primary found on surgery. 

 2011