First Course Treatment/Immunotherapy--Colon: Can "Sandostatin" be coded for treatment of carcinoid tumors of the colon because it flushes tumor cells from the colon in addition to controlling diarrhea?
Do not code Sandostatin (Ocreotide Acetate) as treatment. This is an ancillary drug used to treat symptoms of diarrhea. SEER Book 8 is undergoing revision and will include this change.
Surgery of Primary Site--Rectum: How do you code a procedure described as a "transanal resection, debulking of a large rectal mass"? See Discussion.
Patient is not a surgical candidate due to "other medical conditions". Colonoscopy done for anemia and rectal bleeding. At the colonoscopy a "Transanal Resection Debulking of large rectal mass" is performed. Two specimens are sent to the lab. The first is labeled "rectal mass" and is a 2.0 cm diameter spherical fragment of tissue. The second is labeled "transanal debulking rectal mass" and is described as multiple, irregular shaped fragments of tan, rubbery tissue measuring 5.0 x 5.0 x 3.0 cm. Final path diagnosis: Debulking of rectal mass: Adenocarcinoma greater than 2 cm in size, resection margins positive for tumor.
For cases diagnosed 1998-2002, code Surgery of Primary Site to 20 [Local tumor excision, NOS]. Because the procedure was performed via colonoscopy and apparently did not involve proctectomy, the best choice is a local excision.
Histology (Pre-2007): What code is best used to represent a diagnosis of "metaplastic carcinoma, matrix producing type." The tumor shows poorly differentiated infiltrating duct carcinoma and myxoid, cartilaginous stroma.
For tumors diagnosed prior to 2007:
Code the histology to 8575 [metaplastic carcinoma, NOS]. According to the WHO Classification of Tumors of the Breast and Female Genital Organs, metaplastic carcinoma is a type of epithelial breast tumor. Matrix producing carcinoma is a synonym of metaplastic carcinoma. ICD-O-3 does not have a code for matrix producing carcinoma.
For tumors diagnosed 2007 or later, refer to the MP/H rules. If there are still questions about how this type of tumor should be coded, submit a new question to SINQ and include the difficulties you are encountering in applying the MP/H rules.
Multiple primaries (Pre-2007)/EOD-Extension--Fallopian Tube: How many primaries are coded when endometrioid adenocarcinoma involves bilateral fallopian tubes? See Discussion.
The pathologist states "because of the intimate association with the luminal line of the fallopian tube it is felt that this represents synchronous primaries rather than mets." The SEER Code Manual only lists ovary, retinoblastomas, and Wilms Tumors under the bilateral code stated to be a single primary.
For tumors diagnosed prior to 2007:
Complete two abstracts, one for left fallopian tube and one for right fallopian tube. This case has been determined to be two primaries by the pathologist. Bilateral involvement of paired sites (other than ovary, retinoblastoma and Wilms tumor) with the same histology within two months requires a determination of whether there are one or two primaries. The pathologist in the case above has made this determination.
For tumors diagnosed 2007 or later, refer to the MP/H rules. If there are still questions about how this type of tumor should be coded, submit a new question to SINQ and include the difficulties you are encountering in applying the MP/H rules.
CS Tumor Size--Breast: When the diagnosis is inflammatory carcinoma of the breast, must the CS tumor size always be 998? See Discussion.
I have no specific example of a situation; I am writing an edit check and wondering if there would be any exceptions to this rule.
This answer was provided in the context of CSv1 coding guidelines. The response may not be used after your registry database has been converted to CSv2.No. For inflammatory carcinoma, code the size of the tumor in CS tumor size. Use code 998 [diffuse] when the tumor is stated to be "diffuse."
Page 27 in Part I of the CS manual will be corrected to define code 998 for breast as only "diffuse." The errata should be distributed in July 2004.
Histology (Pre-2007)--Ovary: What code is used to represent clear cell cystadenocarcinoma of the ovary?
For tumors diagnosed prior to 2007:
Code histology to 8310/3 [Clear cell adenocarcinoma, NOS]. This is consistent with the WHO Classification of Tumours and reflects the current practice of placing less emphasis on "cyst-" prefix for ovarian malignancies.
For tumors diagnosed 2007 or later, refer to the MP/H rules. If there are still questions about how this type of tumor should be coded, submit a new question to SINQ and include the difficulties you are encountering in applying the MP/H rules.
EOD-Extension--Breast: If the pathology report states "infiltrating duct carcinoma...measuring 7mm in diameter...focal areas of intraductal carcinoma," do we code this field to 14 [Invasive and in situ components present, size of entire tumor coded in Tumor Size and in situ described as minimal] or to 16 [Invasive and in situ components present, size of entire tumor coded in Tumor Size and proportions of in situ and invasive not known]?
For cases diagnosed 1998-2003: If 7mm is the measurement of the infiltrating duct portion of this cancer, assign extension code 13 [Invasive and in situ components present, size of invasive component stated and coded in Tumor Size].
If 7mm is the size of the whole malignancy and the size of the invasive portion cannot be determined, assign extension code 14 [Invasive and in situ components present, size of entire tumor coded in Tumor Size (size of invasive component not stated) and in situ described as minimal (less than 25%)]. "Focal areas of in situ carcinoma" qualifies as minimal.
First Course Cancer-Directed Treatment--Bladder: How should Mitomycin-C instillation for bladder cancer be coded?
Code the instillation of Mitomycin-C into the bladder for a bladder primary in both the Chemotherapy and Surgery to Primary Site fields. Code the Chemotherapy field to 02 [Single-agent chemotherapy administered as first course therapy]. Mitomycin-C is listed in SEER book 8 as a chemotherapeutic drug, specifically an alkylating agent.
Also, code the Surgery of Primary Site field to 15 [intravesical therapy]. Code the surgical procedure as well as the type of drug (chemotherapy in this case).
Multiple Primaries (Pre-2007)/Histology (Pre-2007)--Kidney: How many primaries, with what histology(ies) should be coded when nephrectomy pathology specimen shows separate tumors of "renal cell carcinoma [clear cell type]" and "renal cell carcinoma [granular cell type]"?
For tumors diagnosed prior to 2007:
Abstract two primaries. This is an example of two tumors with different histologic types in the same site. The right kidney has two separate tumors.
For tumors diagnosed 2007 or later, refer to the MP/H rules. If there are still questions about how this type of tumor should be coded, submit a new question to SINQ and include the difficulties you are encountering in applying the MP/H rules.