Surgery of Primary Site/Immunotherapy--Bladder: Is administration of BCG coded as both surgery and immunotherapy?
Yes, code as both surgery and immunotherapy. The CoC included immunotherapy/BCG under surgery and also under immunotherapy by request of the clinical advisor for bladder, reflecting the mixed-modality nature of the treatments. [Answer from CoC I & R]
Surgery of Primary Site--Colon: In the absence of detailed operative or pathology report descriptions of the specific segment(s) of the colon removed, should a hemicolectomy be coded if stated by the surgeon to be such?
Yes, code hemicolectomy as stated by the surgeon when there is no conflicting or additional information avaliable.
MP/H Rules/Multiple primaries--Breast: Is the diagnosis of Paget disease two years after a diagnosis of infiltrating duct carcinoma of the same breast a new primary? See discussion.
A patient was diagnosed and treated in 2010 for infiltrating duct carcinoma of the left breast. There was no mention of Paget disease. Then in 2012, the same patient was diagnosed with Paget disease of the nipple of the left breast. Rule M9 seems to apply; so this is the same primary, correct? And the information about the Paget disease is simply never captured, correct?
Yes, Rule M9 makes this a single primary. You could revise the original histology code to 8541/3 on the assumption that Paget was present at the original diagnosis, but not yet identified.
Scope of Regional Lymph Node Surgery/Radiation Sequence with Surgery/Date Therapy Initiated: Is the Scope of Regional Lymph Node Surgery field used to code date of first therapy and radiation sequence with surgery? See discussion.
Example: There is no primary site surgery and only an aspirate of a lymph node and the date of therapy is based on this procedure.
Yes, the Scope of Regional Lymph Node Surgery field is used to code the Date Therapy Initiated field and the Radiation Sequence with Surgery field.
Reportability--Breast: Is a biopsy proven squamous cell carcinoma of the breast nipple reportable if a subsequent areolar resection shows foreign body granulomatous reaction to suture material and no evidence of residual malignancy in the nipple epidermis?
Yes, this case is reportable. The primary site is C500 [nipple]. There was a diagnosis of malignancy on 2/15/06: "Positive for malignancy." Even though no residual malignancy was found in the later specimen, that does not disprove the malignancy diagnosed on 2/15/06.
Grade, Differentiation: Are anaplastic tumors always coded to grade 4, even for anaplastic brain primaries?
Yes. Always code the Grade, Differentiation field to for 4 [Grade IV] for "anaplastic" tumors. Anaplastic is synonymous with undifferentiated. Refer to the example in the SEER Program Code Manual, 3rd Ed.
Chemotherapy--Breast: Is chemotherapy administered for inflammatory breast cancer also coded as therapy for an in situ tumor in the contralateral breast?
Yes. Because chemotherapy would likely affect both primaries, code it as treatment for both the in situ and the inflammatory breast cancers.
An official website of the United States government
Home