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April has created these documents for registrars as a lagniappe.  (For those of you who haven’t spent time in New Orleans, a lagniappe is "an extra or unexpected gift or benefit provided by a merchant to a customer.")  All of this information should already be available in your registry in the source documents, but April has reorganized and/or reformatted it a way that she hopes will make your job easier.  
 

 Multiple Primaries and Histology Coding Rules
Updated Formatted Versions

The 2007 Multiple Primary and Histology Coding Rules were updated in November 2007 with errata and clarifications, and the benign/borderline CNS rules were added. We have updated each of the individual formatted versions below with the replacement pages provided by SEER. These files can be used on your computer or printed out for reference.

There are three formats designed so that you can understand and apply the rules in a mode best suited to how you think.
  

• Text format—the full sentences that we are familiar with from previous manuals

• Matrix format—the rules are in a table with labeled columns defining the elements of the rule’s concept and the result (one primary, more than one primary, or the correct code) 

• Flowchart format—states the rule as a question and then tells you what to do, based on whether the answer to the question is yes or no. 

Use the format you are most comfortable with—it will save you time and reduce your stress in determining multiple primaries and coding histology.

The following PDF files have been excerpted from the MP/H rules and recompiled in a single format.  They have been organized for efficient referencing, bookmarked for rapid access, and enabled for commenting (highlighting and notes). 

In order to use these documents properly, you must be have Version 7 or 8 of Adobe Acrobat (or the free Acrobat Reader) installed on your computer.  If you've never used Adobe Acrobat Reader to add comments to a PDF file, here are some helpful instructions. 

Here is more information on the content of these formatted files.  For training materials on the Multiple Primaries and Histology (MP/H) coding rules, visit the SEER web-based training modules, www.training.seer.cancer.gov.

Effective Dates for Registry Reference Manuals.  

Here is a listing of the various editions of standard references and their effective dates (updated July 2007).

Data Comparison Checklist

April created this checklist as part of her "Comparing Apples to Apples" presentation on comparing data bases.  Use it to make sure the data you are comparing to really is comparable.