Other Treatment

See the current version of the SEER Program Coding Manual under Reporting Guidelines, Section VII: First course of therapy, for complete coding instructions for other therapy data items.

Other therapy is defined as: treatment given that cannot be classified as surgery, radiation, systemic therapy, or ancillary treatment. This data includes all complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use by the patient in conjunction with conventional therapy or in place of conventional therapy.

The following are types of treatment that are coded in this field for breast

  1. Diagnosed at Autopsy
  2. Clinical Trials or other-experimental or newly developed treatment
  3. Double blind clinical trial
  4. Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM)

See Clinical Trials Information for more information on clinical trials or Complementary, Alternative, or Integrative Health: What’s In a Name? for more information on CAM therapies.

Palliative Treatment

The World Health Organization (WHO) defines palliative treatment as treatment that improves the qualify of life by preventing or relieving suffering. It is only coded as treatment when it destroys or modifies cancer tissue.

Data item 3270: Palliative care is collected by the Commission on Cancer. Please refer to the current version of the STORE manualExternal Website Policy for coding instructions and codes for this data item. (Note: SEER does not collect this data item, and it is not in the SEER Program Coding Manual)

Document other treatment details in NAACCR Item # 2670: Text-Other.

See Additional resources for Breast cancer treatment for more information.

Updated: January 10, 2025