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Report Produced: 05/25/2025 12:20 PM

Report Question ID Question Discussion Answer Year
20230007

SEER Manual/Reportability--Appendix:  Is low-grade appendiceal mucinous neoplasm (LAMN) with peritoneal spread followed by evidence of extraperitoneal metastatic disease reportable prior to 2022?  See Discussion.

In 2021, the patient was diagnosed with a non-reportable appendiceal LAMN.  Resection showed a tumor diffusely involving the appendix and perforating the visceral peritoneum, as well as extensive intraperitoneal metastasis.  In 2023, a lung wedge resection revealed metastatic mucinous neoplasm involving lung parenchyma and pleura, consistent with metastasis of the known appendiceal primary.  It is understood that intraperitoneal spread of an appendiceal LAMN does not make it reportable because the peritoneal disease is also non-invasive.  Does extraperitoneal metastasis of an appendiceal LAMN diagnosed prior to 2022 make it invasive disease and therefore reportable? 

LAMN diagnosed prior to 1/1/2022 is not reportable even when it spreads or metastasizes according to our expert pathologist consultant.  Spread of this neoplasm does not indicate malignancy.  For this case to be reportable, the diagnosis must indicate “carcinoma” or “adenocarcinoma.”  Pre-2022, LAMN is not reportable even when treated with surgery and chemotherapy.  LAMN is reportable starting with cases diagnosed in 2022.

 2023
20240005

SEER Manual/Mets at Diagnosis--Lung: Would calvarium lesions invading the brain be both brain and bone metastasis or only bone metastasis? See Discussion.

Lung cancer, 2022

12/1/2022 PET/CT showed destructive hypermetabolic bone lesions in right frontal and left posterior calvarium. Left posterior calvarium lesion involves portions of left parietal and temporal bones w/invasion of mastoid air cells.

1/4/2023 MRI Brain showed large destructive mass involving left posterior temporal calvarium that extends into left mastoid region and may invade left distal transverse sinus.

2/8/2023 Radiation Oncology follow-up note: MD states there are extensive calvarium metastasis with the left parietal lesion invading the brain causing edema and MS-like changes.

2/13/23 Radiation Oncology Final Letter- Patient was treated with 1 EBRT fraction aimed at brain/skull before enrolling in hospice.

Abstract as bone metastasis for the first two examples. Abstract as both bone and brain metastasis for the third and fourth examples in the respective Mets at Diagnosis fields based on the description provided.

 2024
20230004

SEER Manual/Laterality--Kaposi Sarcoma:  If both arms are involved with Kaposi sarcoma and no other sites, how is laterality coded?  See Discussion.

Per Solid Tumor Manual Other Sites Rule M6, despite the number of areas of involvement, any presentation of Kaposi sarcoma is always a single primary. The primary site is skin using the Kaposi Sarcoma for All Sites Coding Guidelines (Appendix C, 2023 SEER Manual). 

Does SEER Program Coding and Staging Manual Laterality Coding Instruction #4 preclude the use of code 4 [Bilateral involvement at time of diagnosis...] if a patient presents with KS involvement of only both arms or only both sides of the face?

Assign Laterality code 4 (Bilateral involvement at time of diagnosis, lateral origin unknown for a single primary) in the situations you describe. Skin of upper limb and shoulder and Skin of other and unspecific parts of the face are listed as paired organs in the table Sites for Which Laterality Must Be Recorded In the 2023 SEER Manual.

 2023
20230005

SEER Manual/First Course Treatment--Radiation Treatment Modality: How is Peptide Receptor Radionuclide Therapy (PRRT), a form of molecular therapy, coded when used to treat neuroendocrine tumors? See Discussion.

The 2023 SEER Manual indicates PRRT should be coded in the Other Therapy field per coding instruction 2.d.  Likewise, SINQ 20180106 instructs to code PRRT as Other Therapy, while the discussion portion clearly outlines the radioactive nature of this modality.

Would PRRT be best coded as a radioisotope in the Radiation Treatment Modality--Phase I, II, III field rather than in the Other Therapy field?

For cases diagnosed in 2023 and later, Update to the current manual: Assign code 13 (Radioisotopes, NOS) in Radiation Treatment Modality--Phase I, II, III for PRRT.

We will make this change in the next version of the SEER Manual.

 2023
20230006

SEER Manual/First Course Treatment--Hematologic Transplant And Endocrine Procedures:  How are Surgery of Primary Site and the Hematologic Transplant And Endocrine Procedures data items coded when patient has total abdominal hysterectomy and bilateral oophorectomy for an endometrial primary during the same procedure? Also, how would these data items be coded for a vaginal primary in a surgical scenario?  See Discussion.

The 2023 SEER Manual instructions contain a new note in Hematologic Transplant And Endocrine Procedure, Coding Instruction 6, regarding bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy (BSO) when performed for hormonal effect for breast, endometrial, vaginal, and other primary cancers. While we have observed BSO being performed for breast primaries, we do not recall ever seeing a statement for endometrial or vaginal primaries regarding a “BSO being done as hormonal manipulation” when scheduled either with or without a hysterectomy being performed simultaneously. As a result, we are not clear exactly when a BSO would be captured in the Hematologic Transplant And Endocrine Procedure field for these gynecologic primary sites.

Also, if these types of procedures are Hematologic Transplant And Endocrine Procedures, are they also captured and coded in the Surgery of Primary Site codes that directly relate to those same organs? Does timing have any effect on the coding of either field?

For a primary endometrial or ovarian cancer, record the oophorectomy/BSO procedure using the appropriate Surgery of Primary Site code that includes oophorectomy/BSO when done as part of first course of treatment (surgical resection). If performed for hormone effect, also record in the Hematologic Transplant and Endocrine Procedures data item.  For other primary sites whose Surgery of Primary Site codes do not include oophorectomy/BSO, record it in the Hematologic Transplant and Endocrine Procedures data item when performed for hormone effect.  Document information in the appropriate text fields.

Candidates for risk-reducing BSO may include those with hereditary syndromes (such as BRCA mutations) or genes that carry a substantially increased lifetime risk of ovarian malignancy or hormone-sensitive cancers including estrogen-dependent cancers, like breast cancer, ovarian cancer and endometrial (uterine) cancer that rely on estrogen to develop and grow.

 2023
20230018

SEER Manual/First Course Treatment--Chemotherapy:  Does the First Course of Treatment end when subcategories change for treatments such as hormone therapy or immunotherapy or is that instruction specific to chemotherapy?  See Discussion.

Treatment for estrogen receptor positive (ER+) breast cancer started with tamoxifen (non-steroidal estrogen subcategory) and switched to letrozole (non-steroidal aromatase inhibitor subcategory). Patient being treated with immunotherapy, Avastin (cytostatic agent-antiangiogenesis agent subcategory), and then changed to Atezolizumab (monoclonal antibody subcategory).

Is Atezolizumab a new course of therapy because it is a different subcategory?

Answer updated April 2025

A change in the subcategory for a hormone drug does not indicate the end of First Course of Treatment because different hormone therapies generally achieve the same result. For example, some forms of breast cancer are estrogen-dependent and the various subcategories of hormone drugs used to treat them, such as gonadotropin-releasing factor agonists, aromatase inhibitors and estrogen antagonists, all achieve the same result - to block estradiol effects in these tumors.

Similarly, a change in immunotherapy is not a new course of treatment.

However, if a change to hormone therapy or immunotherapy is due to a change in the patient's ER, PR, or Her2 status, this could signify a new course of treatment.

The instruction in the SEER Manual is specific to chemotherapy. Chemotherapy is the only systemic treatment for which a change in the subcategory of a drug indicates the end of First Course of Treatment, due to the fact that different chemical agents damage cancer cells in different ways and at different phases in the cell cycle.

 2023
20110093

Residence at dx: After living elsewhere (Florida) and traveling around the country in an RV with his spouse, is a patient a resident of this area for either primary if he was diagnosed with his first primary less than a month after arriving in the area and a second primary more than a year after parking his RV here?

Use the patient's usual residence to determine residency. If the usual residence is not known or the information is not available, use the residence the patient specifies at the time of diagnosis. The SEER rules for determining "usual residence" match the rules used by the US Census Bureau.

 2011
20041089

Reportablility--Breast: Is lobular neoplasia, grade 2 reportable? See Discussion.

Path report reads: Lobular neoplasia, grade 2.

According to the AFIP nomenclature for DCIS (taken from the WHO terminology), this would be the equivalent of LCIS. But nowhere can I find this specifically applies to lobular in the same way that ductal neoplasia is treated.

According to the editors of ICD-O-3, lobular neoplasia grade 2 is not equivalent to LCIS. It is not a reportable term. Lobular neoplasia and lobular intraepithelial neoplasia are equivalent terms having a three grade system. Only LN/LIN grade 3 would be reportable since those terms are analogous to ductal intraepithelial neoplasia grade 3.

2004
20150037

Reportablility--Breast: Is lobular neoplasia reportable as lobular carcinoma in situ? See Discussion.

According to College of American Pathologists (CAP), lobular neoplasia is also known as lobular carcinoma in situ. In a previous SEER question 20041089, it was stated that they were not the same and should not be reported unless it was a Grade 3. I assume this has changed and we are to report lobular neoplasia as lobular carcinoma in situ, is this correct?

For cases diagnosed 2021 or later

Lobular neoplasia (LN II and LN III) and lobular intraepithelial neoplasia (LIN II and LIN III) are reportable and coded 8520/2.

 2015
20210075

Reportability:  What American College of Radiology Reporting and Data Systems (RADS) can be used to determine reportability?  See Discussion.

LI-RADS (liver), PI-RADS (prostate), and TI-RADS (thyroid) can be used to determine reportability. BI-RADS (breast) and Lung-RADS cannot be used to determine reportability. Can these systems below to determine reportability?

C-RADS (from CT colonography)

NI-RADS (head & neck)

O-RADS (ovarian-adnexal)

The following cancer cases are reportable unless there is information to the contrary.

–Liver cases with an LI-RADS category LR-4 (reportable since 2021) or LR-5 (reportable since 2016)

–Prostate cases with a PI-RADS category 4 or 5 (reportable since 2017)

The following are not reportable without additional information.

–Breast cases designated BI-RADS 4, 4A, 4B, 4C or BI-RADS 5

–Lung cases designated Lung-RADS 4A," 4B, or 4X

–Liver cases based only on an LI-RADS category of LR-3

–Colon cases with only C-RADS information (C-RADS category C4 is not reportable by itself)

–Head and Neck cases with only NI-RADS information (NI-RADS category 3 is not reportable by itself)

–Ovarian or fallopian tube cases with only O-RADS information (none of the O-RADS categories are reportable without additional information)

–Thyroid cases with only TI-RADS information (none of the TI-RADS categories are reportable without additional information)

 2021