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20210038 | Update to current manual/First course treatment--Neoadjuvant treatment: How are the 2021 neoadjuvant therapy fields coded when neoadjuvant therapy and surgery were part of first course plans but treatment was never completed. See Discussion. |
Example: Breast case where first course treatment plan is neoadjuvant therapy and surgery after. The patient was hospitalized during neoadjuvant therapy, elected hospice, and later died, so the neoadjuvant therapy was never completed, surgery not done. How are the 2021 neoadjuvant therapy fields coded in this situation as neoadjuvant therapy and surgery were part of first course plans. I coded neoadjuvant therapy to 2 - started but not completed, but there are no codes to properly explain the clinical response and therapy treatment effect as the patient did not complete neoadjuvant therapy. Should I use code 9 for clinical response and treatment effect or should this be left blank for this particular case? |
Assign code 8 for Neoadjuvant Therapy--Clinical Response in this case. We will update the SEER manual to allow code 2, in addition to code 1, in Neoadjuvant therapy when Clinical Response is coded 8. We will also add instructions covering a case such as this one. Assign code 7 for Neoadjuvant Therapy--Treatment Effect and use text fields to record the details. We will add instructions to the manual for this scenario. |
2021 |
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20210035 | Update to current manual/Lymphovacular invasion--Thyroid: Are psammoma bodies only recorded as vascular invasion in papillary thyroid cancer cases? See Discussion. |
For example, total thyroidectomy specimen shows right lobe papillary thyroid carcinoma, 4.2 cm, unencapsulated, with numerous psammoma bodies in non-tumoral thyroid parenchyma, without angioinvasion; left lobe with papillary thyroid carcinoma, 0.6 cm, encapsulated, with capsular invasion, with intralymphatic psammoma bodies in non-tumoral thyroid parenchyma, without angioinvasion. The synoptic summary documents vascular invasion present (psammoma bodies only). |
If you are collecting lymphovascular invasion (LVI) for thyroid cases, record "vascular invasion present (psammoma bodies only)" as vascular invasion (code 1, Lymphovascular Invasion Present/Identified) in the LVI data item. Use a text field to specify that this is vascular invasion by psammoma bodies. |
2021 |
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20210036 | Update to current manual/Lymphovascular invasion: Are lymphvascular invasion and lymphvascular space invasion on a pathology report the same thing or do they describe different things? |
We confirmed with our expert pathologist consultant that lymphovascular invasion and lymphovascular space invasion are synonymous. |
2021 | |
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20210017 | Update to current manual/Mets at diagnosis fields--Lymphoma: Are distant metastases possible for a lymphoma with a primary site of lymph nodes? The instructions in the SEER manual tell us to assign code 8 in each of the Mets at Dx fields for a lymphoma originating in lymph nodes. |
This is a correction to the SEER manual. Lymphomas originating in lymph nodes (C77) could have distant metastases to any site except lymph nodes. The following corrections to the manual apply now and will appear in the next version of the manual. Remove C770-C779 from the instruction for assigning code 8 on the following pages. Page 135 Mets at Dx--Bone Page 137 Mets at Dx--Brain Page 139 Mets at Dx--Liver Page 141 Mets at Dx--Lung Page 145 Mets at Dx--Other Example Biopsy of axillary lymph node: Diffuse Large B-Cell lymphoma. Lymph nodes involved above and below the diaphragm, multiple nodules seen in lung, lesions in liver. Bone marrow biopsy positive for DLBLC. Per Hematopoietic manual, primary site would be C778 for multiple lymph node regions involved. Mets at Dx--Bone-0 Mets at Dx--Brain-0 Mets at Dx--Liver-1 Mets at Dx--Lung-1 Mets at Dx--Distant Lymph Nodes-8 Mets at Dx--Other-1 |
2021 | |
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20190033 | Update to current manual/Neoadjuvant therapy/Pathologic tumor size--Breast: When a patient with invasive breast cancer is started on neoadjuvant therapy and at surgery is found to have only residual in-situ disease, do we record the size of the in-situ tumor for Pathologic Tumor Size? See Discussion. |
I understand that we are to record the Clinical Tumor Size in Tumor Size Summary because of the neoadjuvant therapy, but the SEER manual does not address what to record in the Pathologic Tumor Size after neoadjuvant therapy. Would we record 999 or the size of the in-situ tumor in the Pathologic Tumor Size field? Will there ever be a new data item added or changes to this current data item? By recording the Patholigic Tumor Size this way, there currently will not be any way to compare tumor size clinically versus after neoadjuvant therapy and assessing the response. |
Note: this is an update to the 2018 SEER manual. Assign 999 in Pathologic Tumor Size when neoadjuvant therapy has been administered. We can explore the possibility of another data item in the future. |
2019 |
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20190016 | Update to current manual/SS2018--Breast: Should Code 3 of the Summary Stage 2018 (SS2018) for Breast designate the intramammary and infraclavicular lymph nodes as being ipsilateral? Similarly, should Code 7 designate infraclavicular lymph nodes as contralateral/bilateral? Laterality (ipsilateral, contralateral/bilateral) is included for axillary and internal mammary nodes in the respective codes. |
Based on your question, a review of the AJCC manual was done to clarify how these nodes would be coded. A review of Extent of Disease (EOD) Regional Nodes and EOD Mets was also done. That information is correct and in line with AJCC 8th edition. We apologize that SS2018 was not updated accordingly and thank you for bringing this issue to our attention. Per AJCC, infraclavicular and intramammary nodes are ipsilateral for the N category. Contralateral or bilateral involvement are included in the M category. The following will be applied to the planned 2020 update of the SS2018 manual. Code 3 Ipsilateral will be added to Infraclavicular and Intramammary Infraclavicular (subclavicular) (ipsilateral) Intramammary (ipsilateral) Code 7 The following will be added under Distant lymph nodes Infraclavicular (subclavicular) (contralateral or bilateral) Intramammary (contralateral or bilateral) |
2019 | |
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20190054 | Update to current manual/Solid Tumor Rules (2018)/Histology--Brain and CNS: Table 6 (Non-Malignant CNS Equivalent Terms and Definitions) lists as a subtype/variant of craniopharyngioma 9350/1. This is not a valid histology per the ICD-O-3 or the 2018 ICD-O-3 Update Table. Is this actually supposed to read, ? |
Adamantinomatous craniopharyngioma (9351/1) is a subtype of craniopharygioma. We will correct the Non-Malignant CNS Solid Tumor Rules in the next update. |
2019 | |
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20190051 | Update to current manual/Solid Tumor Rules (2018)/Histology--Lung: What is the histology code and what M Rule applies when there are multiple specific subtypes identified using various equivalent lung terms but only one is stated to be predominant? See Discussion. |
Example: Lung resection final diagnosis is Lung adenocarcinoma, see Summary Cancer Data, and the Summary Cancer Data (CAP Synoptic Report) states Histologic type: Invasive adenocarcinoma, solid predominant. Other Subtypes Present: 20% acinar and <5% micropapillary components. Instruction 1B and Note 1 for Coding Multiple Histologies (Lung Histology Rules) indicates type, subtype, component, and predominantly are all terms that may be used to code the most specific histology. In this case, the multiple specific histologies were documented using all of those terms. Note 2 for instruction 1B states predominantly describes the greatest amount of tumor and when it is used for the listed subtypes of adenocarcinoma, that subtype should be coded. However, Note 2 does not indicate that the other subtypes are ignored when one is identified to be predominant and the others are identified as subtype or component only. |
Code to invasive adenocarcinoma, solid predominant (8230/3), based on the example, using Lung Solid Tumor Rules Coding Multiple Histologies instruction #1 that says to code the specific histology where the most specific histology may be described as component, majority/majority of, or predominantly, in this case, 75%. Apply Rule M2 as this appears to be a single tumor with multiple histologies based on the information provided. The rules will be updated to add a new H rule and to reviseTable 2 when two or more histologies described as predominant are present. |
2019 |
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20190080 | Update to current manual/Surgery of Primary Site/Surgery codes--Melanoma: Can the operative report be used to assess margins if there is no residual melanoma on the wide excision and no margins stated, or if distance is not stated on the pathology report when there is residual melanoma? See Discussion. |
1) Is the operative report only used for margins when the wide excision states no residual disease and no margins are stated on path report? Or do you use the operative report too for margins when the wide excision has residual melanoma and margins are negative but distance is not stated on path report? Does it matter if there was residual melanoma on the wide excision or not as far as using the operative report for margins? 2) Do these rules only apply to melanoma cases or do they also apply to Merkel cell? 3) Did CoC and SEER both agree on this? Are they going to send out an update because this is not how I interpret what is in the STORE manual/SEER manual under the surgery codes. It might be good to send out an official update to the surgical coding rules if this is how we are to code now. |
1. You may take margin information from the operative report if it is missing from the pathology report when assigning the surgery codes for skin.
2. The rule applies to any skin malignancy for which the skin surgery codes apply. 3. SEER, CoC, NPCR, NCRA, NAACCR, and the Canadian registries participated in this decision. SEER is publishing this SINQ question for reference. |
2019 |
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20240059 | Update to the Current Manual/SEER*RSA--SEER Site-specific Factor 1: The 2024 SEER Manual and SEER*RSA say that Codes 10-51 are hierarchical; use the highest code that applies (10 is highest, 51 is lowest). Should the guidance say that 51 is highest, 10 is lowest since code 10 is a HPV negative p16 test? |
Assign the highest code with 51 as the highest and 10 the lowest when there is more than one test performed with differing results. The SEER Manual will be updated in the 2025 release. SEER*RSA will be updated in a future release, version 3.3 in 2026, as version 3.2 has been updated for 2025. |
2024 |
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