Melanoma of the Skin can be found in the AJCC 8th Edition Staging Manual in Chapter 47, pages 563-581.  A review of Melanoma Staging is provided below with explanations on what has changed from the AJCC 7th Edition to the AJCC 8th Edition.   Definition of Primary Tumor (T): Tumor thickness ranges are maintained, but T1 is subcategorized beginning at 0.8mm in depth. Ulceration is still…

As cancer registries nationwide begin trudging through the latest coding and staging changes for cases diagnosed in 2018, we wanted to share a few helpful reminders and tips!   Solid Tumor Coding Rules – 2018 The 2018 Solid Tumor coding rules are used for: Determining the number of primaries to abstract Determining the appropriate histology to code These rules replace the 2007 Multiple Primary & Histology…

Physicians may utilize incomplete information to assign cancer staging for treatment purposes or so a patient can have a better understanding of their prognosis; however, cancer registrars should not assign stage grouping to cases where incomplete or uncertain staging components exist.  The following are highlights of best practices for staging when you encounter incomplete or uncertain staging items. Best Practices for Incomplete Information and Cancer Staging:…

The Breast and Colon changes outlined below take effect with cases diagnosed 1/1/2018 and forward.  These changes were published in April, 2018 by SEER at https://seer.cancer.gov/tools/staging* *The order of the data collected has changed, and some previously collected data fields are no longer collected for 01/01/2018 and forward diagnoses.  There are a number of new data fields being collected for breast primaries. * There has been…