Per FORDS (2016) page 138 “Do Not code surgical procedures which aspirate, biopsy or remove regional lymph nodes in an effort to diagnose and/or stage disease in this data item. Use the data item Scope of Regional Lymph Node Surgery (NAACCR Item #1292) to code these procedures.
In our cancer registry software this entails coding the Scope of Regional Lymph Node Surgery field as a surgical data item. An example of how this could appear:
| Surgical Date | Surg Prim Site Code | *Scope LN Surg | Reg LN Examined | Surgical Margins |
| 1/1/2016 | 0 | 1 | 95 | 8 |
| No Surg Proc Primary Site | Bx or asp of regional LN | No reg LN removed, asp or core bx performed | No primary site surgery | |
| FORDS (2016) page 239 | FORDS (2016) page 244 | CS General Instructions | FORDS (2016) page 242 |
*Regional Lymph Nodes only. Distant lymph nodes are not recorded in this field