California Cancer Reporting System Standards Volume I: Abstracting and Coding Procedures
Stage classifications indicate the point in time and the basis/source of the information used to stage the case.
Clinical Stage (cTNM) = Pretreatment Stage
Pathologic Stage (pTNM) = Postsurgical Stage
Must use “y” prefix in conjunction with either clinical stage or pathologic stage
Clinical ycTNM = stage after systemic therapy or radiation and before surgical resection
Pathologic ypTNM = stage after systemic therapy or radiation and after surgical resection
Autopsy Stage (aTNM) = Stage diagnosed at autopsy
Applies only when cancer was unknown prior to death
*Retreatment Stage = (rTNM) Recurrent/Progression stage
Only clinical (cTNM), pathologic (pTNM), and neoadjuvant post therapy (ypTNM) are collected in registry T, N, and M data fields.
DO NOT CODE clinical ycTNM stage (after systemic therapy or radiation and before surgical resection).
DO NOT CODE Retreatment Stage in the T, N, or M data fields.
DO NOT CODE Autopsy Stage in the T, N, or M data fields.
There are currently no stage descriptors available to identify these classifications in registry software.
If your facility collects ycTNM, aTNM or rTNM stage information, document in text fields or software user specific fields only.