Wiki 162.8 Contiguous sites

[dtricia]

I want to use this code for a upper and lower lobe cancer -the sites are contiguous. But what is meant by the phrase ' whois point o forigin cannot be determined'?
Tricia D

 

[rhondatalley]

This may be indicative of a metastatic site with an unknown primary site. Does the documentation indicate that the lung is the primary?

 

[mitchellde]

Agree that is how a metastatic site with unknown primary would be documented

 

[alannae]

I understand the .8 'contiguous or overlapping sites' to mean that the cancer began in one lobe and 'expanded' or grew (not metastasized) to invade the other lobe AND it cannot be determined whether the tumor started from the the upper or lower lobe.

It indicates that the cancer occupies more than one defined area and neither area can be determined to be the original or starting point.

For example, a patient with a breast mass which overlaps the upper and lower outer quadrants (without specifying which quadrant it started from) would be coded as 174.8 and not as 174.4 and 174.5. You would also use 174.8 when the pathology or mammogram describes the location as 3, 6, 9, or 12 o'clock since these would not fall into a quadrant.

 

[dtricia]

I would not have thought it had anything to do with metastasis...there are other codes for that.
I think using this code for upper and lower lobes overlapping would be an appropriate use. The breast cancer example helped to clarify that.
Thanks
Tricia D