California Cancer Reporting System Standards Volume I: Abstracting and Coding Procedures
As the CCR began reporting benign brain and CNS tumors prior to national reporting implementation, there are two sets of rules for establishing the Date of Diagnosis for benign and malignant brain tumors.
Record the date a recognized medical practitioner states the patient has a reportable tumor, whether that diagnosis was made clinically or pathologically. If a clinical diagnosis, do not change the date of diagnosis/when there is a subsequent tissue diagnosis. This pertains to cases diagnosed January 1, 2004 and forward.
A CT scan done 4/1/04 states brain tumor. The patient has surgery on 4/5/04 and a biopsy reveals an astrocytoma. The date of diagnosis is 4/1/04.
Use the most definitive source of diagnostic confirmation as the date of diagnosis. This pertains to cases diagnosed January 1, 2001 to December 31, 2003.
A CT scan done 2/1/03 states brain tumor. The patient has surgery on 2/5/03 and a biopsy reveals an astrocytoma. The date of diagnosis is 2/5/03.