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| Report | Question ID | Question | Discussion | Answer | Cancer Site Category | Data Item Category | Year |
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20240012 | Solid Tumor Rules/Histology--Other Sites: Should an additional Note be added to Other Sites Solid Tumor Rules, Rule H12, to indicate that if the diagnosis is an NOS histology in a polyp, continue on through the rules or should Other Sites Rule H13 be moved ahead of Rule H12 to capture this specific histology? See Discussion. |
The accuracy rate for SEER Workshop Case 04 (a duodenal invasive adenocarcinoma in an adenomatous polyp) was very low because Rule H13 was either being ignored or users were stopping at Rule H12 to code adenocarcinoma. If the presence of an NOS histology in a polyp is still clinically relevant for the Other Sites module, this information will be missed due to the order of the H Rules, or the lack of clarification in Rule H12. If a change is made to Rule H12 (Single Tumor: Invasive Only module), then changes must also be made to the Single Tumor: In Situ Only module and the Multiple Tumors Abstracted as a Single Primary module because both these modules include the same polyp coding H Rule. |
The rule order is the same as in the previous MP/H rules. Will keep as is for now. Assign codes adenocarcinoma in adenomatous polyp (8210), adenocarcinoma in villous adenoma (8261), and (adenocarcinoma in tubulovillous adenocarcinoma (8263) using Other Sites Solid Tumor Rule H12 or Rule H27 as these are specific invasive histology codes. Rule H13 applies to histology codes associated with polyps but associated with a histology term/code other than adenocarcinoma. |
N/A | Histology | 2024 |
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20031207 | Hormone Therapy--Hematopoietic, NOS: Is hormonal therapy coded for myelodysplastic syndrome, NOS? See Description. | Patient with myelodysplastic syndrome refused chemotherapy and was treated with high dose steroids. Patient also received Rituxan. | Hormones, such as glucocorticoids and androgens, are generally of little if any benefit to patients with myelodysplastic syndrome, according to the NCI PDQ. Do not code steroids as treatment in the example above. | N/A | First course treatment | 2003 |
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20260020 | Radiation Therapy: Is I 131 sodium iodide coded as radiation? SINQ 20031040 says to code Radiation as 3 (radioisotope) but SEER*Rx says not to code it. |
Code sodium iodine (I 131) therapy in Radiation Treatment Modality as code 13 (Radioisotopes, NOS). Code Radiation External Beam Planning Technique as code 88 (not applicable). Do not code if used in diagnostic procedures. Radioactive I 131 should be coded when given in therapeutic doses (usually 30-50mCi but could be higher in high risk patients). The same agent is used for diagnostic imaging, but the dose is very small (1-3mCi). We will update SEER*Rx. |
N/A | Radiation Therapy | 2026 | |
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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 | |
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20021015 | Ambiguous Terminology/Reportability: How should the expressions "suspicious for but not diagnostic of" and "suspicious for the possibility of early invasive adenocarcinoma" be interpreted for reportability? Would the interpretation be different depending on the primary site? | For reportability, interpret "suspicious for but not diagnostic of" as NOT diagnostic of cancer.
The phrase "suspicious for the possibility of early invasive adenocarcinoma" may indicate that the case is in situ. If no further information is available, this is not reportable.
The site of the cancer diagnosis does not change the interpretation. |
N/A | N/A | 2002 | |
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20210011 | Primary site: Is C720 the correct primary site for a diagnosis of a paraspinal neuroblastoma on autopsy in a nine month old with Noonan syndrome? See Discussion. |
Autopsy/Pathology Report (2020) excerpts External Examination Nervous System: There is an 8.5 cm mass located in the right thoracic paraspinal area. Final Anatomic Diagnosis Clinical History: Paraspinal mass suspicious for neuroblastic tumor (detected by imaging studies) Nervous System: Right thoracic paraspinal neuroblastoma, poorly differentiated |
Assign primary site code C473 for this case based on the information provided (peripheral nerves and autonomic nervous system of thorax). From our expert pathologist consultant: The origin of neuroblastomas is generally in the adrenal medulla or one of the sympathetic ganglia on either side of the vertebral column (although they have been reported in many other locations given the migration of the neural crest cells embryologically). |
N/A | Primary site | 2021 |
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20000248 | Date of Diagnosis: When doing follow-back at nursing homes on DCO cases, we find it difficult to code diagnosis date because the nursing home records are often vague or incomplete. Should the diagnosis date be coded as unknown (excluded from SEER database), the date of death, or the approximate date of diagnosis as reported on the death certificate? | If the nursing home record indicates that the patient had cancer, use the best approximation for date of diagnosis.
If the record says the patient had cancer when admitted, but it does not provide a date of diagnosis, use the date of admission as the date of diagnosis.
If there is no mention of cancer in the nursing home record and/or all work-up in the record is negative, assume the cancer was discovered at autopsy. Use the date of death as the date of diagnosis, and leave as a Death Certificate Only case. |
N/A | Date of diagnosis | 2000 | |
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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 | |
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20160038 | Birthplace/Place of birth, country: For patients originally born in a country that is currently listed as "historic only", where the original birth country now has a one-to-many relationship with the current country, how should the reported original birthplace be coded? (Example: Yugoslavia) |
Assign code for Europe, NOS (ZZE) for Yugoslavia, NOS, without further information. |
N/A | N/A | 2016 | |
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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
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 |
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