Grade Clinical
This input is used for staging
Notes
**Note 1:** Grade Clinical must not be blank. **Note 2:** Assign the highest grade from the primary tumor assessed during the clinical time frame. **Note 3:** If there are multiple tumors with different grades abstracted as one primary, code the highest grade. **Note 4:** There are two major grading systems used for Breast and they are based on the behavior of the primary tumor (in situ or invasive) **Invasive tumors** * The preferred grading system for Invasive tumors is the **Nottingham grade/Nottingham Score**, also known as the Scarff-Bloom-Richardson or Bloom Richardson * The **Nottingham score** is a combined histologic grade in which three components are evaluated to determine the overall grade: **tubule formation, nuclear pleomorphism and mitotic count**. Each of these components is assigned a value from 1 (favorable) to 3 (unfavorable) for each feature and then totaling the scores for all three categories. A combined score of 3-5 points is designated as grade 1; a combined score for 6-7 points is grade 2; a combined score of 8-9 points is grade 3 **Note 5:** If a pathology report for an invasive cancer states, “Grade 1 (or 2, 3)” and there is no further information, assume this is the Nottingham grade and assign the appropriate code. * If a pathology report for an invasive cancer states, “well differentiated, moderately differentiated, poorly differentiated, low, medium, high,” use grades A-D as appropriate * ***Example***: Pathology report states invasive ductal carcinoma, well differentiated. Code grade A. * **Do not use grades L, M, H for invasive tumors** * *Exception*: Biopsy diagnosis is DCIS; Lumpectomy is invasive ductal carcinoma. The Clinical Grade would be L, M, H or 9 based on the DCIS; the Pathological Grade would be 1, 2, 3, or 9 based on the invasive ductal carcinoma. Behavior would be /3 **Note 6:** **In situ tumors** * The preferred grading system for in situ tumors is based on a 3 grade Nuclear system, and is defined as Low (L) (Nuclear Grade 1), Intermediate (M) (Nuclear Grade 2), or High (H) (Nuclear Grade 3), or the nuclear component of the Nottingham grade * Documentation for these grades may be 1/3, 2/3, 3/3. This notation is documenting the nuclear component of the Nottingham grade, not the Nottingham grade (1, 2, 3) * If a pathologist uses a Nottingham grade (i.e., G2) for an in situ cancer, they are documenting the nuclear component of the Nottingham score. You would still assign L, M, or H as appropriate for the in situ tumor * **Do not use grades 1, 2, 3 for in situ tumors** **Note 7:** Grade from nodal tissue may be used **ONLY** when there was **never** any evidence of primary tumor (T0). Grade would be coded using G1, G2, or G3, even if the grading is not strictly Nottingham, which is difficult to perform in nodal tissue. Some of the terminology may include differentiation terms without some of the morphologic features used in Nottingham (e.g., well differentiated (G1), moderately differentiated (G2), or poorly/undifferentiated (G3)). * *Example:* No breast tumor identified, but 2/3 axillary nodes were positive. Determined to be regional node metastasis from breast primary. Nodes were described as poorly differentiated with a high mitotic rate - Code G3 based on the poorly differentiated (which is a high grade) although the terminology used is for nuclear grading **Note 8:** Code 9 (unknown) when * Grade from primary site is not documented * Clinical workup is not done (for example, cancer is an incidental finding during surgery for another condition) * Grade checked “not applicable” on CAP Protocol (if available) and no other grade information is available **Note 9:** If there is only one grade available and it cannot be determined if it is clinical or pathological, assume it is a Grade Clinical and code appropriately per Grade Clinical categories for that site, and then code unknown (9) for Grade Pathological, and blank for Grade Post Therapy Clin (yc) and Grade Post Therapy Path (yp). **Note 10:** If you are assigning an AJCC Staging System stage group * Grade is required to assign stage group * Codes A-D are treated as an unknown grade when assigning AJCC stage group * An unknown grade may result in an unknown stage groupDefault
9NAACCR Item
NAACCR #3843Metadata
SSDI| Code | Description |
|---|---|
| 1 | G1: Low combined histologic grade (favorable), SBR score of 3-5 points Stated as Nottingham/Scarff Bloom-Richardson Grade 1 |
| 2 | G2: Intermediate combined histologic grade (moderately favorable); SBR score of 6-7 points Stated as Nottingham/Scarff Bloom-Richardson Grade 2 |
| 3 | G3: High combined histologic grade (unfavorable); SBR score of 8-9 points Stated as Nottingham/Scarff Bloom-Richardson Grade 3 |
| L | Nuclear Grade I (Low) (in situ only) |
| M | Nuclear Grade II (interMediate) (in situ only) |
| H | Nuclear Grade III (High) (in situ only) |
| A | Well differentiated |
| B | Moderately differentiated |
| C | Poorly differentiated |
| D | Undifferentiated, anaplastic |
| 9 | Grade cannot be assessed (GX); Unknown |