| Report | Question ID | Question | Discussion | Answer | Year | 
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|  | 20190098 | Solid Tumor Rules (2018)/Multiple primaries--Breast: How many primaries are there and how is histology coded for a breast primary showing encapsulated papillary carcinoma and Paget disease of the nipple? See Discussion. | Patient has a 1.7 cm encapsulated papillary carcinoma staged as pTis located 2 cm from the nipple and Paget disease of the nipple on mastectomy pathology. There is no indication in Table 3: Specific Histologies, NOS/NST, and Subtypes/Variants that encapsulated papillary carcinoma is a subtype of ductal carcinoma. Rule M8 notes that if the histology of the underlying tumor is any histology OTHER THAN duct or subtypes of duct, one should continue through the rules. But if M9 applies to this case, then incidence reporting will be increased in comparison to prior years. | Abstract multiple primaries when there is Paget disease (8540/3) and an underlying tumor that is not duct, in this case, encapsulated papillary carcinoma (8504/2) using Rule M9 of the 2018 Breast Solid Tumor Rules. | 2019 | 
|  | 20190021 | Sequence Number Central--Brain and CNS: How is Sequence Number--Central coded for current/recent benign brain/CNS tumors when the patient has a history of an additional non-malignant CNS tumor diagnosed prior to 2004 (when these tumors became reportable to SEER)? See Discussion. | We are confused by the SEER Program Coding and Staging Manual 2018 instruction that states: This sequence number counts all tumors that were reportable in the year they were diagnosed even if the tumors occurred before the registry existed or before the registry participated in the SEER Program. Does this rule apply to benign and borderline CNS tumors? Does this mean that any non-malignant CNS tumor diagnosed prior to 2004 should NOT be included in the sequencing (in the 60s range) if we were collecting non-malignant CNS per our State Registry reporting requirements prior to 2004? Example: Patient has a March 2017 diagnosis of right sided vestibular schwannoma (C724-1, 9560/0) and a prior history of left sided acoustic neuroma (c724-2, 9560/0) diagnosed in 1991. How should sequence be coded for each primary in our file? | For your example, code the Sequence Number--Central as 61 for the 1991 diagnosis if this was a state registry requirement in 1991 and code 62 for the 2017 diagnosis. | 2019 | 
|  | 20190041 | Reportability/Primary Site--Gastrointestinal (GI) Tract: Is a gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) with a single nodule in the small intestine (C17_) and a nodule in the stomach (C16_) reportable per the 2018 SEER Coding Manual reporting instructions for GIST due to the multiple foci or do the multiple foci need to be in the same organ to be reportable? See Discussion. | Example: Small intestine wedge resection with GIST, 1.8 cm in mid small intestine, single nodule. Stomach nodule biopsy: GIST, 0.3 cm. Pathology report comment section indicates the gastric GIST is not staged due to the small size and incidental nature. | Report the GIST in the small intestine. The 2018 SEER Manual says to report GIST when there are multiple foci and to code the primary site to the site where the malignancy originated. Use text fields to record the details, including the stomach nodule. | 2019 | 
|  | 20190075 | Sex: How should the sex field be coded for the newly allowable non-binary gender designation ? See Discussion. | Washington State added to birth certificates, which allows people to have their certificates changed to this non-binary gender designation. Gender X is defined as a gender that is not exclusively male or female, including, but not limited to: intersex, agender, amalgagender, androgynous, bigender, demigender, female-to-male, genderfluid, genderqueer, male-to-female, neutrois, nonbinary, pangender, third sex, transgender, transsexual, Two Spirit, and unspecified. | Code Gender X as 9 when that is the only information available. Use text fields to document the details. Also refer to coding instruction #7. When gender is not known Assign code 1 when the primary site is C600 'C639 Assign code 2 when the primary site is C510 'C589 Assign code 9 for primary sites not included above | 2019 | 
|  | 20190053 | Solid Tumor Rules (2018)/Histology--Brain and CNS: What is the histology code for a central nervous system (CNS) Ewing sarcoma family tumor with CIC alteration of the right parietal lobe? See Discussion. | Table 3 (Specific Histologies, NOS, and Subtypes/Variants) lists Ewing sarcoma as a synonym for Peripheral primitive neuroectodermal tumor 9364. Presumably, this is to be used for the reportable malignant peripheral nerve tumors when diagnosed as pPNET or Ewing sarcoma. However, this patient has a type of central (or CNS) primitive neuroectodermal tumor (histology 9473). Table 3 does not list central primitive neuroectodermal tumor (PNET or CPNET) as a valid histology for CNS tumors. While Table 3 does not list all the possible histologies for the CNS, it currently is not clear how one would arrive at the histology code for a CNS Ewing sarcoma family tumor with CIC alteration, as this is recognized as a new entity for primitive neuroectodermal tumors of the CNS (i.e., PNET, histology 9473) per multiple journal articles. Ewing sarcoma family tumors include both peripheral PNET and central PNET tumors, but to code this histology as a peripheral PNET (9364) in this case seems incorrect when the primary tumor is stated to be of central nervous system origin, not peripheral nervous system origin. | Code as 9364/3. WHO Classification of Tumors of the CNS, 4th edition, refers to Ewing sarcoma/peripheral primitive neuroectodermal tumor as a tumor of neuroectodermal origin involving the CNS either as a primary dural neoplasm or by direct extension from contiguous bone or soft tissues (such as skull, vertebra, or paraspinal soft tissue). | 2019 | 
|  | 20190036 | First Course of Treatment/Hormone Therapy--Breast: Is hormone therapy (HT) prescribed for invasive ductal carcinoma of the right breast coded as treatment for lobular carcinoma in situ (LCIS) of the left breast even though the treatment plan for the LCIS was documented as surveillance? See Discussion. | Patient is diagnosed with invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC), right breast, receives HT, radiation therapy, and surgery. The same patient is diagnosed with LCIS, left breast one month later--recommend surveillance only (no surgery). Is the HT for the left breast coded at all? I think for COC/NCCN, we do not, but for SEER what would I do? Treatment in the SEER Manual 2018 states, "Code the treatment on each abstract when a patient has multiple primaries and the treatment given for one primary also affects/treats another primary." The example include bladder/prostate and ovarian/cervix. It also states, "Code the treatments only for the site that is affected when a patient has multiple primaries and the treatment affects only one of the primaries." The example includes colon/tonsil. Breast LCIS treatment appears complicated. Per NCCN guidelines, this condition no longer has recommendations, however it appears as though they still state that if a core biopsy is done and is LCIS, follow up should be ultrasound or surgical excision. Nowhere does it state hormone is recommended. | Do not code the hormone treatment for the LCIS since it was clearly documented that the hormone treatment was given for the IDC and the treatment for the LCIS was documented as "surveillance." Use text fields to record the details on both abstracts. | 2019 | 
|  | 20190076 | Primary Site/Brain and CNS: How is primary site coded when the ICD-O-3 provides a sub-site-associated morphology code and the only information available to code primary site for a particular diagnosis indicates a non-specific/not otherwise specified (NOS) site code? See Discussion. | ICD-O-3 Rule H states to use the topography code provided when a topographic site is not stated in the diagnosis. This topography code should be ignored if the tumor arose in another site. For the following brain and central nervous system (CNS) examples, should the suggested sub-site codes be assigned based on the histology, or should the primary sites be coded as C719 (posterior fossa or suprasellar brain) since the only information available was a tumor in these non-specific sites? Example 1: Resection of a posterior fossa tumor proved medulloblastoma, WNT-activated. Although medulloblastoma has a site-associated code in the ICD-O-3 (C716, cerebellum), the only information available is that this was a posterior fossa tumor (C719). Example 2: Resection of a suprasellar brain tumor proved pineoblastoma. The pathologist labeled this as a brain tumor, suprasellar. Although pineoblastoma has a site-associated code in the ICD-O-3 (C753, pineal gland), the only information available is that this was a suprasellar brain tumor (C719). | If possilbe, ask the physician(s) about the exact site of origin. If it is not possible to obtain more information, the information in the medical documentation takes priority over ICD-O-3 Rule H, even when that results in a less specific topography code. | 2019 | 
|  | 20190097 | Solid Tumor Rules (2018)/Multiple primaries--Lung: How many primaries are there and what M rules apply for multiple lung histologies in the left lower lobe (LLL) and right upper lobe (RUL) of the lungs? See Discussion. | There is one tumor in the left lung that is acinar adenocarcinoma, 8551/3, and two tumors in the right lung, one of which is 8551/3 and a separate one that is mucinous adenocarcinoma 8253/3. 3/21/18- left robotic video assisted thoracoscopy with left lower lobe lobectomy: 2.5 cm adenocarcinoma, acinar predominant, margins negative 11/3/18- right upper lobe lobectomy: invasive mucinous adenocarcinoma, 1.7 cm, invasive adenocarcinoma, acinar predominant, 0.6 cm, margins negative If you start by comparing the 8551/3 left lung tumor to the 8253/3 right lung tumor, M6 applies and these would be separate primaries (seq 01 and seq 02). How would we handle the third tumor, 8551/3, in the right lung? Seq 01: 3/21/18- left lung primary 8551/3 Seq 02: 11/3/18- right lung primary 8253/3 Is the right lung tumor 8551/3 a third primary, and if so, which M rule applies? I cannot find a rule that seems to fit completely. Rule M6 may apply if you were comparing the right 8551/3 tumor to the seq 02 8253/3 tumor. But how would you know to use the seq 02 histology code 8253/3 or seq 01 histology code 8551/3 for the comparison? I think M9 was designed for situations where you have multiple tumors involving both lungs but they didn't biopsy all of them. Is that correct? If so, then we would be able to bypass M9. Would M11 apply since we already took care of two of the tumors with rule M6? If M11 doesn't apply, it seems like you would get to M14. | Abstract two primaries applying Rules M6 and M9 s follows. First, assign a histology for each tumor. --LLL adenocarcinoma, acinar predominant 8551/3 --RUL invasive mucinous adenocarcinoma 8253/3 --RUL invasive adenocarcinoma, acinar predominant 8551/3 For the RUL, this is two primaries according to Rule M6, to subtypes in Column 3 of the histology table. For the LLL and RUL, this represents the same primary as these are the same histology according to Rule M9. | 2019 | 
|  | 20190095 | Reportability/Histology--Thymus: Is a thymoma a malignancy if described as having separate tumor nodules within peri-thymic adipose tissue? See Discussion. | Patient had a thymectomy including pericardial fat for a mediastinal mass found incidentally during lung screening. Final diagnosis is WHO B3 thymoma. Staging Summary lists transcapsular invasion: "Present, as separate tumor nodules within peri-thymic adipose tissue." Tumor extension is stated to be "Confined to thymus, including peri-thymic adipose tissue." The pathologist staged this resection as pT1a pNX with no mention of mets. Clinically, there are no noted metastatic sites and no further treatment is planned. | Report this case as a malignant thymoma. Our expert pathologist consultant reviewed this case and in his opinion, the "separate tumor nodules within peri-thymic adipose tissue" fit registry reporting criteria for separate tumor nodules making this a malignant thymoma. | 2019 | 
|  | 20190020 | Solid Tumor Rules (2018)/Histology--Head & Neck: What table in the Head and Neck Solid Tumor Rules applies to tumors of the lip (C000-C009)? The rules apply to all tumors in sites C000-C148, C300-C339, C410, C411, C442 and C479, but none of the histology tables include the lip. See Discussion. | Example: Patient has a secretory carcinoma of minor salivary gland tissue (mammary analogue secretory carcinoma [MASC]) of the mucosal lower lip; it is unclear which table to use and how to arrive at the correct histology using the H Rules. Rule H1 (code the histology when only one histology is present) states, Note 1: Use Tables 1-9 to code histology. There is no table that includes the lip. The correct histology should be 8502 which is listed in Table 6 (Tumors of Salivary Glands) however this does not correspond to minor salivary glands of the mucosal lip (site C003 per ICD-O-3 coding instruction). The 2018 ICD-O-3 Update table does not include this histology, however Table 6 indicates code 8502 (secretory carcinoma) is a new code that was approved by IARC/WHO. The ICD-O-3 only includes this histology as secretory carcinoma of breast. Therefore, in order to arrive at the correct histology, one must be aware of previous SINQ entries 20160036 and 20130003 that indicate secretory carcinoma (or MASC) is histology 8502. However, these are related to MP/H Rules, so registrars may be hesitant to apply this guideline to cases coded using Solid Tumor Rules. | Assign 8502/3 using Table 6 of 2018 Solid Tumor Rules for Head and Neck. Table 4 notes that there is no ICD-O site code for minor salivary glands. Many minor salivary glands are located in the lips, inner cheek (buccal mucosa), and there are extensive minor salivary glands in the linings of the mouth and throat. Code to the site in which the salivary gland is located. Mammary analog secretory carcinoma (MASC), also called secretory carcinoma, is a rare, generally low-grade salivary gland carcinoma characterized by morphological resemblance to mammary secretory carcinoma and ETV6-NTRK3 gene fusion. Common sites are of the parotid gland, oral cavity, submandibular gland, and the axilla with rare sites being the face including the lips, trunk, and limbs according to WHO Classification of Head and Neck Tumors, 4th edition and WHO Classification of Skin Tumors, 4th edition. This histology is usually associated with primary site of breast and you may get an edit that you can override. | 2019 | 
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