VI_6_1 Immunotherapy Agents and Codes

VI.6.1 Immunotherapy Agents and Codes

Enter the appropriate code below when coding immunotherapy in the Summary field.

Coding Instructions:

Cases diagnosed January 1, 2012 and forward, report the following as Immunotherapy:

Donor lymphocyte infusion - The lymphocyte donation from the original donor creates an immune reaction to the cancer cells.

With cases diagnosed January 1, 2005 and forward, registrars must use SEER*Rx, for coding systemic treatment (i.e. chemotherapy, hormone therapy, and immunotherapy).

SEER*Rx is the downloadable, interactive antineoplastic drug database that replaces SEER Self-Instructional Manual Book 8, Antineoplastic Drugs.
The software can be downloaded from the SEER*Rx Web Site.
Report the following as immunotherapy:

ASILI (active specific intralymphatic immunotherapy)
Blocking factors
Interferon
Monoclonal antibodies*
Transfer factor (specific or non-specific)
Virus therapy

NOTE: Some monoclonal antibodies are used to deliver chemotherapy or radiation agents to the tumor, not to kill the tumor immunologically. Consult SEER*RX to determine how to appropriately code monoclonal antibodies.

Use codes 00-87 for recording immunotherapy in the at this facility field.
Immunotherapy agents must be recorded in the text field.
For recording therapy at this facility, do not use code 99 if Class of Case is coded to 00, 30, or 31.
Referral to a medical oncologist is considered a recommendation. Follow-up on these cases is required to determine whether immunotherapy was administered or not, and code accordingly. This applies to cases diagnosed January 1, 2010 and forward.
Effective with cases diagnosed 1/1/2003, this data item was modified. Codes for transplants and endocrine procedures were removed and were coded in a separate field called RX Summ - Transplnt/Endocr. The length of this field was changed from 1 to 2 characters. The codes for reason for no immunotherapy (BRM) given were incorporated into this scheme.

Codes:

Code	Description
00	None, immunotherapy was not part of the planned first course of therapy.
01	Immunotherapy administered as first course therapy.
82	Immunotherapy was not recommended/administered because it was contraindicated due to patient risk factors (i.e. Comorbid conditions, advanced age).
85	Immunotherapy was not administered because the patient died prior to planned or recommended therapy.
86	Immunotherapy was not administered. It was recommended by the patient's physician, but was not administered as part of the first course of therapy. No reason was stated in patient record.
87	Immunotherapy was not administered. It was recommended by the patient's physician, but this treatment was refused by the patient, a patient's family member, or the patient's guardian. The refusal was noted in the patient record.
88	Immunotherapy was recommended, but it is unknown if it was administered.
99	It is unknown whether an immunotherapeutic agent(s) was recommended or administered because it is not stated in patient record. Death certificate only.

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