Oncology & Hematology Coding Alert

Question: Based on the pathology results, my provider has diagnosed a patient as having a grade 1 well-differentiated pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor (PNET). Should I use C25.4 or C7A.098 for the diagnosis?

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Answer: Malignant neuroendocrine tumors are generally coded to C7A.- (Malignant neuroendocrine tumors) in ICD-10-CM, but there is no code for a PNET in that group. However, that does not mean C7A.098 (Malignant carcinoid tumors of other sites) is the correct code to use in this case.

Instead, you’ll use C25.4 (Malignant neoplasm of endocrine pancreas) for your patient. This code has the inclusion term “malignant neoplasm of islets of Langerhans,” which connects the code to the groups of cells in the pancreas that secrete insulin.