Oncology Data Specialists (ODS) are, as stated by the National Cancer Registrars Association (NCRA): “… data information specialists that capture a complete history, diagnosis, treatment, and health status for every cancer patient in the U.S. The curated data provides essential information to researchers, healthcare providers, and public health officials to better monitor and advance cancer treatments, conduct research, and improve cancer prevention and screening programs.
In recognition of May’s Bladder, Brain, Melanoma and Skin Cancer Awareness Month, along with our continued effort to help shine a light on the benefits of cancer registries, we will focus on brain and melanoma cases and the changes in data collection over the past couple of years.
In 2023, the Skin primary sites and Melanoma cases received significant changes in coding for Surgical Procedures and the addition of a Site-Specific Data Item (SSDI) to record the Clinical Margin Width.
2022 Skin Surgical codes (old)
2023 Skin Surgical codes (new)
Melanoma SSDI Clinical Margin Width, despite the description, is specific to the surgical margin from a Wide Local Excision only (as documented in the operation note and not from the pathology report) and is recorded in centimeters. Site-Specific Data Items (SSDI) additions are made to capture information related to prognosis and/or treatment planning and reflect changes in clinical guidelines.
Melanoma SSDI – Clinical Margin Width
In 2023 there were changes related to the Brain and CNS neoplasms. ICD-O-3.2 histology codes included changes in reportable terminology including. The highlighted codes in the image below correspond to the 2024 SSDI Brain Molecular Markers revision.
2023 ICD-O-3.2 Updates
In 2024, most changes involve primary site Brain. There was only one new SSDI – Brain Primary Tumor Location. This was added to distinguish between the Pons and all other subsites within the brain stem (C71.7). The revised SSDIs for Brain Molecular Markers added codes 10-23 to incorporate new terms for various histologies (highlighted in blue). Code 85 was revised to include all histologies applicable for this data item.
2024 revisions to Brain Molecular Markers SSDI
Oncology Data Specialists (ODS) collect over 250 data items for every patient and must stay abreast of changes from year to year. These codes are cancer registry specific to enable data consolidation and analysis that aim to inform high quality patient care. ODSs code them based on Electronic Medical Record documentation from the cancer care team. The partnership with physicians and providers on complete documentation helps ODSs code completely.