Description

Codes for the type of radiation therapy performed as part of the first course of treatment.

Note: Radiation to brain and central nervous system for leukemia and lung cases is coded as radiation in this field.

Codes

0	None
1	Beam radiation
2	Radioactive implants
3	Radioisotopes
4	Combination of 1 with 2 or 3
5	Radiation, NOS-method or source not specified
6	Currently allowable for historic cases only; see note below
7	Patient or patient's guardian refused*
8	Radiation recommended, unknown if administered*
9	Unknown if radiation administered

Note: CoC discontinued collection of this item in 2003 when FORDS was implemented. For CoC, codes 7 and 8 were used for tumors diagnosed before 1996, but should have been converted to 0 in this field and to the appropriate code in the new field Reason for No Radiation [1430]. SEER continues to use codes 7 and 8 for all years. See Chapter V, Unresolved Issues, for further discussion.

In the SEER program, a code 2 for other radiation was used between 1973 and 1987. When the radiation codes were expanded to add codes ‘2’ radioactive implants and ‘3’ radioisotopes, all cases with a code ‘2’ and diagnosed in 1973-1987 were converted to a code ‘6’ radiation other than beam radiation.