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Summary Stage is the most basic way of categorizing how far a cancer has spread from its point of origin. Historically, Summary Stage has also been called General Stage, California Stage, historic stage, and SEER Stage. The 2018 version of Summary Stage applies to every site and/or histology combination, including lymphomas and leukemias. Summary Stage uses all information available in the medical record; in other words, it is a combination of the most precise clinical and pathological documentation of the extent of disease.
The chapters of this manual are provided below as individual files and as a single PDF.
Manual Sections
- Summary Stage 2018 General Coding Instructions (PDF, 1.8 MB)
- Head and Neck (PDF, 1.5 MB)
- Digestive and Hepatobiliary Systems (PDF, 1.3 MB)
- Respiratory Tract and Thorax (PDF, 1.1 MB)
- Bone (PDF, 1.0 MB)
- Soft Tissue (PDF, 1.0 MB)
- Skin (PDF, 1.1 MB)
- Breast (PDF, 1.0 MB)
- Female Genital System (PDF, 1.2 MB)
- Male Genital System (PDF, 1.1 MB)
- Urinary System (PDF, 1.1 MB)
- Ophthalmic Sites (PDF, 1.1 MB)
- Brain (PDF, 1.0 MB)
- Endocrine System (PDF, 1.0 MB)
- Hematologic Malignancies (PDF, 1.2 MB)
- Ill-defined Other (PDF, 979 KB)
- Appendices (PDF, 1.2 MB)
Complete Summary Stage 2018 Manual (PDF, 4.1 MB)
Revision History
The change log (PDF, 403 KB) contains updates made between version 3.1 and 3.2.
Refer to the Historical Staging and Coding Manuals for previous versions of the manual.
Suggested Citation
Ruhl JL, Callaghan C, Schussler N (eds.) Summary Stage 2018: Codes and Coding Instructions, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, 2024.
Copyright Information
All material in this report is in the public domain and may be reproduced or copied without permission; citation as to source, however, is appreciated.
