Summary Stage is the most basic way of categorizing how far a cancer has spread from its point of origin. Historically, Summary Stage has also been called General Stage, California Stage, historic stage, and SEER Stage. The 2018 version of Summary Stage applies to every site and/or histology combination, including lymphomas and leukemias. Summary Stage uses all information available in the medical record; in other words, it is a combination of the most precise clinical and pathological documentation of the extent of disease.
The chapters of this manual are provided below as individual files and as a single PDF.
Manual Sections
- Summary Stage 2018 General Coding Instructions (PDF, 759 KB)
- Head and Neck (PDF, 1.8 MB)
- Digestive and Hepatobiliary Systems (PDF, 823 KB)
- Respiratory Tract and Thorax (PDF, 744 KB)
- Bone (PDF, 471 KB)
- Soft Tissue (PDF, 621 KB)
- Skin (PDF, 707 KB)
- Breast (PDF, 518 KB)
- Female Genital System (PDF, 922 KB)
- Male Genital System (PDF, 613 KB)
- Urinary System (PDF, 621 KB)
- Ophthalmic Sites (PDF, 714 KB)
- Brain (PDF, 559 KB)
- Endocrine System (PDF, 616 KB)
- Hematologic Malignancies (PDF, 707 KB)
- Ill-defined Other (PDF, 482 KB)
- Appendices (PDF, 1.1 MB)
Complete Summary Stage 2018 Manual (PDF, 2.8 MB)
Suggested Citation
Ruhl JL, Callaghan C, Hurlbut, A, Ries LAG, Adamo P, Dickie L, Schussler N (eds.) Summary Stage 2018: Codes and Coding Instructions, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, 2018.
Copyright Information
All material in this report is in the public domain and may be reproduced or copied without permission; citation as to source, however, is appreciated.