Beginning with cancer cases diagnosed January 1, 2024* and forward, data items for Pediatric and Adolescent/Young Adult (AYA) populations are now available for use in hospital or central registries on a volunteer basis. The staging elements collected are based on the Toronto Childhood Cancer Staging Guidelines, Version 2, along with additional data items for surveillance purposes.
There are 4 main data items in the Pediatric DCS:
1.Pediatric Primary Tumor
2.Pediatric Regional Nodes
3.Pediatric Mets
4.Applicable SSDIs (Schema-dependent)
Vendors are encouraged to visit SEER*RSA to access links for the API and libraries. Additional questions on API or libraries can be directed to Nicki Schussler.
*Requirements for collection vary by facility and standard-setter. Vendors and facilities should consult with the central registry in each state for implementation dates and requirements.
The Pediatric Staging Manual will be expanded over the course of several years and will be a comprehensive guide for coding all pediatric cancers.
- Pediatric Staging Manual v1.1(PDF, 187 KB)
- Appendix I(PDF, 1.1 MB)
- Appendix II(PDF, 261 KB)
- Appendix III(PDF, 115 KB)
The Toronto Pediatric Cancer Staging Guidelines recommend disease-specific staging systems for use by population-based cancer registries. They are not intended to replace or conflict with staging systems used by clinicians in determining treatment and prognosis of individual patients.
See below references related to the Toronto Childhood Cancer Staging Guidelines:
-Gupta S, Aitken JF, Bartels U, et al. Paediatric cancer stage in population-based cancer registries: the Toronto consensus principles and guidelines. Lancet Oncol. 2016;17(4):e163-e172. doi:10.1016/S1470-2045(15)00539-2
-Aitken JF, Youlden DR, Moore AS, et al. Assessing the feasibility and validity of the Toronto Childhood Cancer Stage Guidelines: a population-based registry study. Lancet Child Adolesc Health. 2018;2(3):173-179. doi:10.1016/S2352-4642(18)30023-3
-Gupta S, Aitken J, Bartels U, et al. Development of paediatric non-stage prognosticator guidelines for population-based cancer registries and updates to the 2014 Toronto Paediatric Cancer Stage Guidelines. Lancet Oncol. 2020;21(9):e444-e451. doi:10.1016/S1470-2045(20)30320-X
-Aitken JF, Youlden D, O’Neill L, Gupta S, Frazier AL, eds. Childhood cancer staging for population registries according to the Toronto Childhood Cancer Stage Guidelines – Version 2. Cancer Council Queensland and Cancer Australia: Brisbane, Australia; 2021.
Training is currently under development and will be available here in late 2024/early 2025.
For questions related to the content of Pediatric Staging, please submit a question to Ask a SEER Registrar.
