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The clinical assessment code takes priority over the pathological assessment code in this case because the clinical assessment was worse than the pathologic assessment. Although there was a pathological assessment, the clinical assessment is greater. According to the general coding guidelines for neoadjuvant therapy, code the worst information, which in this case is the clinical assessment.

The 2018 EOD General Instructions for EOD Regionals Nodes, instruction #4, addresses neoadjuvant therapy as follows. Neoadjuvant (preoperative) therapy: If the patient receives neoadjuvant (preoperative) systemic therapy (chemotherapy, immunotherapy) or radiation therapy, code the clinical information if that is the most extensive lymph node involvement documented.

A new note is being included for the 2022 updates. Exception: If patient has neoadjuvant therapy, and the clinical assessment is greater than the pathological assessment, the clinical assessment code takes priority.

Use all information available in the medical record. EOD is a combination of the most precise clinical and pathological documentation of the extent of disease as instructed in the EOD 2018 General Instructions, Extent of Disease section.

EOD 2018 General Instructions, General Coding Instructions section advises to use the medical record documentation to assign EOD when there is a discrepancy between the T, N, M information and the documentation in the medical record. When there is doubt that the documentation in the medical record is complete, code the EOD corresponding to the physician staging. A discrepancy can exist within the medical record when the information in the chart is unclear, incomplete, or conflicting, for example, the TNM staging from pathology differs from the medical oncologist’s TNM staging.

In the scenario provided, use the medical oncologist stage information that takes into account imaging and exam findings. Based on the stage cT4 N3b, assign

EOD Primary Tumor: 400

Extensive skin involvement

WITHOUT a stated diagnosis of inflammatory carcinoma

WITH or WITHOUT dermal lymphatic filtration

EOD Regional Nodes: 600

Internal mammary node(s), ipsilateral, clinically apparent

(On imaging or clinical exam)

WITH axillary (level I, II, or III) lymph node(s), ipsilateral including infraclavicular

Please see the corrected levels below for the note. Note 4: If a Breslow's depth is given in the pathology report and there is no other indication of involvement, the following guidelines may be used (Note: If a physician documents a different Clark's Level than provided by these guidelines, go with the physician's Clark Level)

Code 000: Level I (In situ)

Code 100: Level II (< 0.75 mm Breslow's Depth)

Code 200: Level III (0.76 mm to 1.50 mm Breslow's Depth)

Code 300: Level IV (> 1.50 mm Breslow's Depth)

Thank you for bringing this to our attention.

The instruction regarding C476 has been removed from the Solid Tumor rules. Benign and borderline neoplasms coded to C470-C479 are not reportable at this time.

Assign C720 for an intradural schwannoma at L2-4. That should allow you to use the correct EOD and Summary Stage 2018 schemas.

For this case, report each GIST diagnosis separately. This differs from SINQ 20190041 because in that case the stomach GIST was incidental and measured only 0.3 cm. Reporting these separately means that each one is no longer a multifocal tumor. If there is no other indication of malignancy for these, they would not be reportable if diagnosed in 2020 or earlier.

For cases diagnosed 2021 or later, all GIST are reportable. Report this as two primaries. Use the new GIST schema for EOD and assign EOD Primary Tumor 100 for each. There is no mention of extension outside the primary site. Summary Stage is Localized for each.

Assign code 500 for EOD Primary Tumor for now.

We have confirmed with AJCC that "invasion of" but not "through" the visceral peritoneum maps to a T2 and not T3. Involvement of the visceral peritoneum for Summary Stage is Regional and does not make a distinction between "invasion of" or "invasion through." Any involvement of the visceral peritoneum is regional.

To correct this situation would require a new code, which would derive a T2/RE. That code will be added to the updates for 2023.

Code 500 will derive the appropriate Summary Stage of 2 (Regional). We are aware that this will derive the incorrect T; however, there is no work around at this time that will derive the correct T and Summary Stage, so we are defaulting to deriving the correct Summary Stage.

For cases diagnosed 1998-2003:

Code the EOD Clinical Extension field to 30-34 when there is no documentation saying that the physical examination was negative.

Segments 2, 3, and 4 correspond to the left lobe of the liver. Segments 5, 6, 7 and 8 correspond to the right lobe of the liver. Segment 1 is the caudate lobe, which has completely different drainage and vascularization, is separate from the larger right and left lobes.

For cases diagnosed 1998-2003: Since segments 5 and 7 are both in the right lobe, assign EOD-extension code 30 for the case above, unless there is mention of vascular invasion. Be sure to record the size of the largest primary tumor.

Tumor size and vascular invasion are the most important factors for AJCC 6th edition staging.

For cases diagnosed 1998-2003:

On the basis of the physical exam impression, code the EOD-Clinical Extension field to 20 [involvement of one lobe, NOS] for this case. Although the medical record did not provide a physician's staging of the case as clinically apparent, the physician did suspect carcinoma prior to the biopsy.

If clarifying stage information is missing and the term is in the "maybe" category or the term is not on the list, then code extension as 30 [localized, NOS] for cases that appear localized.

For cases diagnosed 1998-2003:

Note 8 in the EOD scheme does not apply because nodule size does not apply in the 5th or 6th edition of TNM.