Pathology Report

See the current version of the SEER Program Coding Manual under Reporting Guidelines for the complete coding instructions on the related pathology data items.

• Section IV: Description of this Neoplasm
• Section V: Stage of Disease at Diagnosis
• Section VI: Stage Related Data Items

In addition to cytology report, there are also pathology reports, which comes from two main sources.

• Biopsy
• Surgical Resection
  • Procedure that is used to remove the cancer

Data Items Found Within Pathology Reports

Data Item	Comments	Text Field	Source of Coding Instructions
Date of Diagnosis	The pathology report is usually the date that the cancer is microscopically (histologically) confirmed; however, the date of diagnosis may be prior to the pathology report (e.g., diagnosed on imaging)	# 2570 Text-Dx-Proc-Path	SEER Program Coding Manual, under Reporting Guidelines, Section IV: Description of this Neoplasm
Primary Site	Bladder has multiple subsites. Review the pathology report to see if you can determine the subsite Note: If the pathology report(s) don’t provide the subsite, review operative report or imaging to see if the subsite is documented	2580: Text-Dx-Primary Site Title AND 2570: Text-Dx-Proc Path	SEER Program Coding Manual, under Reporting Guidelines, Appendix C, Bladder, Primary Site Coding Guidelines & Solid Tumor Rules, under Reporting Guidelines, Urinary
Histology	This is the ICD-O-3 Morphology code assigned	2590: Text-Dx-Histology Title AND 2570 Text-Dx-Proc Path	Solid Tumor Rules, under Reporting Guidelines, Urinary
Behavior	This reflects whether the tumor is benign, borderline, in situ, or invasive	2590: Text-Dx-Histology Title AND 2570 Text-Dx-Proc Path	Solid Tumor Rules, under Reporting Guidelines, Urinary
Laterality	Code laterality 0 for all Bladder cases. Bladder is not a paired site.	# 2570 Text-Dx-Proc-Path	SEER Program Coding Manual, under Reporting Guidelines, Section IV: Description of this Neoplasm
Regional Nodes Positive	Records the number regional lymph nodes found to contain metastasis	# 2570 Text-Dx-Proc-Path	SEER Program Coding Manual, under Reporting Guidelines, Section VII: First Course of Therapy
Regional Nodes Examined	Records the number of regional lymph nodes that were removed and examined	# 2570 Text-Dx-Proc-Path	SEER Program Coding Manual, under Reporting Guidelines, Section VII: First Course of Therapy
Grade	See Grade	# 2570 Text-Dx-Proc-Path	SEER*RSA, Bladder schema OR Schemas | SSDI Data | (naaccr.org), Bladder

Updated: April 22, 2025