EOD Regional Nodes

Coding lymph nodes for the breast are based on several different factors

  • Are the nodes clinically moveable or are they fixed?
  • Involvement of specific regional nodes (ipsilateral only)
    • Axillary: Levels I, II, III
    • Internal mammary (parasternal)
    • Intramammary
    • Infraclavicular
    • Supraclavicular
  • How they are evaluated
    • Clinically diagnosed
      • Used when there is a clinical workup only and there is no surgical resection of the primary tumor or site. This includes FNA, core biopsy, sentinel node biopsy, or lymph node excision.
    • Pathologically diagnosed
      • Used when the primary tumor or site is surgically resected with any microscopic examination of regional lymph nodes, including FNA, core biopsy, sentinel node biopsy, and lymph node dissection.
  • Size and number of lymph node metastasis
    • How big the lymph node metastases are (< 2 mm or greater than 2 mm)
    • How many positive lymph nodes  > 2 mm

See Anatomy (Lymph Nodes) for a complete list of Breast regional lymph nodes.

See SEER*RSA, Breast, for the current version of EOD and complete coding instructions for the Breast schema.

Updated: January 10, 2025