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Report Produced: 10/08/2026 14:03 PM

Report Question ID Question Discussion Answer Cancer Site Category Data Item Category Year
20031088

First-Course of Cancer-Directed Therapy Fields/Hematopoietic, NOS: How do you code treatment for a myelodysplastic syndrome when a patient is admitted to receive a "second transfusion 7 months after diagnosis"?

The first course of treatment for these hematopoietic primaries lasts until there is a treatment change. For the case you cite the second transfusion (7 months after diagnosis) would be first course treatment. Code the Other Cancer-Directed Therapy Field to 1 [Other cancer-directed therapy].

 N/A First course treatment 2003
20021156 Primary Site/Histology (Pre-2007): What codes are used to represent site and histology for BSO specimen with a diagnosis, "Left and right adnexa: poorly differentiated serous carcinoma. Comment: The carcinoma occurs as multiple nodules within adnexal soft tissues. Direct involvement of ovaries is not seen, supporting an extraovarian origin." See discussion. Per our pathologist consultant, the site should be pelvic peritoneum [C481] and the histology is primary serous papillary carcinoma of peritoneum [8461/3]. Does SEER agree?

For tumors diagnosed prior to 2007:

Code the Primary Site to C481 [Specified parts of peritoneum] and the Histology field to 8461/3 [primary serous papillary carcinoma of peritoneum].

For tumors diagnosed 2007 or later, refer to the MP/H rules. If there are still questions about how this type of tumor should be coded, submit a new question to SINQ and include the difficulties you are encountering in applying the MP/H rules.

 N/A Histology, Primary site 2002
20100027 Reportability: Is AIN III reportable if it arises in the perianal skin? See Discussion. Physical exam states patient has a suspicious area of anal skin. Operative findings show a raised, suspicious lesion in the right perianal region. Our interpretation of the primary site would be skin and therefore not reportable. However, the final diagnosis on the pathology report indicates "AIN III/squamous cell carcinoma with focal areas suspicious for microinvasion. "SINQ #20041056 states that AIN III is reportable. AIN III of the anus or anal canal (C210-C211) is reportable. AIN III (8077) arising in perianal skin (C445) is not reportable. N/A N/A 2010
20020003 EOD-Size of Primary Tumor: Can you code the tumor size if you have the aggregate size given for two or more tumor masses?

For cases diagnosed 1998-2003:

No. Never code the aggregate size in the Size of Primary Tumor field when the pieces removed come from TWO OR MORE tumors. If there is a clinical statement regarding the size of two or more tumors, code this field to the size of the largest tumor.

The aggregate size can only be used to code the Size of Primary Tumor field when the PATHOLOGIST estimates the size of the tumor from the pieces of ONE tumor removed by the surgeon.

 N/A N/A 2002
20091126 MP/H Rules/Multiple primaries--Vagina: How many primaries should be abstracted for a patient with a complex history of multiple occurrences of vaginal intraepithelial neoplasia (VAIN III) between 2001 and 2008 and invasive squamous cell carcinoma (SCCA) of the vagina diagnosed in 2006 and again in 2008? See Discussion. Patient had VAIN III in March of 2001. She had a partial vaginectomy and then continues to have laser surgery in 2002, 2003, 2005 and 2006 for recurrences. In 12/2006 she is diagnosed with SCCA of the vagina with microinvasion (new primary). Then in 2/2008 she has VAIN III again -- new primary according to rule M10 (more than 1 year later). An invasive SCCA of the vagina is again diagnosed in 9/2008. Is this another new primary per rule M15 (invasive after in situ)? Every instance in 2008 is called a recurrence, but we disregard that statement.

There are two primaries according to the information provided.

1. VAIN III March 2001.

2. SCCA of vagina Dec. 2006 (invasive tumor following an in situ

For cases diagnosed 2007 or later, the MP/H rules apply to new tumors, which means that there has been a disease-free interval at some point. In this case, the patient has never been declared disease-free (NED) using the information provided in the question. The consistent recurrence of VAIN is typical of this disease.

 N/A N/A 2009
20100031

First course treatment--Anus: Is the topical application of trichloroacetic acid to an anal condyloma with AIN III first course treatment coded to 10 [Local tumor destruction, NOS] in the Surgery of Primary Site field?

Code the trichloroacetic acid treatment of reportable AIN III in the "Other Therapy" field. Assign code 1 [Other].

 N/A First course treatment 2010
20061078 Histology (Pre-2007): How is "adenocarcinoma, diffuse type, with signet ring features" coded?

For tumors diagnosed prior to 2007:

Code 8490 [Signet ring cell carcinoma]. Histology coding Rule 7 is the only rule that applies to this diagnosis. Assign the numerically higher ICD-O-3 code.

For tumors diagnosed 2007 or later, refer to the MP/H rules. If there are still questions about how this type of tumor should be coded, submit a new question to SINQ and include the difficulties you are encountering in applying the MP/H rules.

 N/A Histology 2006
20031033 Grade, Differentiation--Hematopoietic: Is this field coded to 6 [B-cell] from a flow cytometry that specifies the percentage of B-cells that exist within the percentage of lymphoid cells in the bone marrow biopsy? See Description. Bone marrow biopsy, Final path diagnosis: consistent with small lymphocytic lymphoma/chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Comment: flow cytometry analysis was performed on bone marrow aspirate. The gated population of lymphoid cells comprises approximately 19% of total nucleated cells. Of these, 53% are B-cells which express CD19, CD22. These findings are consistent with the above diagnosis.

For cases diagnosed prior to 1/1/2010:Yes, assign code 6, B-cell. The flow cytometry analysis confirms B-cell.

For cases diagnosed 2010 forward, refer to the Hematopoietic and Lymphoid Neoplasm Case Reportability and Coding Manual and the Hematopoietic Database (Hematopoietic DB) provided by SEER on its website to research your question. If those resources do not adequately address your issue, submit a new question to SINQ.

 N/A N/A 2003
20210045

Update to Current Manual/Neoadjuvant Treatment: What codes should be used for Neoadjuvant Therapy--Clinical Response and Neoadjuvant Therapy--Treatment Effect when the neoadjuvant therapy is still in progress at the time the case is initially abstracted as with rapid reporting. There is no code for neoadjuvant therapy still in progress and code 9 generates an edit for Neoadjuvant Therapy--Clinical Response.

Assign code 8 for Neoadjuvant Therapy--Clinical Response and assign a code 9 for Neoadjuvant Therapy--Treatment Effect when the treatment is still in progress. Revise these codes after the treatment has been completed.

We will update the manual to include these instructions.

 N/A N/A 2021
20240036

Update to Current Manual/Race: How is Race coded when stated as Hispanic and there is no other information? See Discussion.

There appears to be discrepant information in the 2024 (and prior) SEER manual regarding race coding when the patient is described only as Hispanic/Latina. Page 78 tells us to Code as 01 (White) when: b. There is a statement that the patient is Hispanic or Latino(a) and no further information is available

  1. A person of Spanish origin may be any race; however, for coding race when there is no further information other than “Hispanic” or “Latino(a),” assign race as White as a last resort instead of coding unknown.

However, in Appendix D, under "Other Race descriptions", there is a statement that "If no further information is available, code as 99 Unknown." The list includes "Hispanic."

Assign code 01 (White) for Hispanic when there is no additional information. It is listed in the 2024 SEER Manual, Race Coding Instruction 6.b.i. and in Appendix D for code 01. We will remove Hispanic from the list in Appendix D under code 99 in the next version of the manual.

 N/A Race, ethnicity 2024