CHAPTER A - nomesco

STRUCTURE AN D CLASSIFICATION GUIDELINES
Besides the present guidelines for classification, the individual chapters are provided with detailed instructions in the form of
short explanatory texts – inclusions, exclusions, cross-references, pointers to additional codes.
E.g.:
JDD Total gastrectomy
Includes: Omentectomy and resection of adjacent oesophagus
Includes: Local lymph node dissection
Additional code for extended lymph node dissection, see: PJD 98
Concurrent thoracotomy, see: GAB 10
Concurrent splenectomy, see: JMA 10
Subtotal gastrectomy, see: JDC
JDD 00 Total gastrectomy and Roux-en-Y oesophagojejunostomy
JDD 96 Total gastrectomy with other reconstruction
Includes: With construction of reservoir
The use of Includes: above denotes technical aspects or detail modifications of the procedure that fall within the procedure as
delimited by the code, but need not necessarily be mandatory for the use of the code. In other instances Includes: may
denote synonyms to the terms used in the basic code text.
Notes on terminology
• The code texts are descriptive and intended to be representative of the usage among surgeons in the Nordic countries. The code
texts are however not intended to be normative for the terminology used in patient records.
A code text has a delimiting function, often encompassing several closely related modifications of the surgical procedure,
and is designed for the purpose of recording the activity of surgical units. The description of an operation in the patient
record may be better served by the use of terms that are more specific or by terminology that is locally accepted and
preferred in the individual surgical unit. Provided that the proper procedure codes are used for registration purposes, the
NCSP does not aim at replacing surgical terminology in patient records with the basic code texts of the NCSP.
• Open procedures are not usually specified as such in the code texts. Unless otherwise specified, an open approach is
assumed.
• The term “excision” embraces extirpation, resection, enucleation and procedures of the same nature, and may be specified
as partial or total.
Excisional terms with the suffix “-ectomy” may be partial or total in extent, according to English usage, as opposed to
Nordic usage where the suffix “-ectomy” is usually reserved for total or near total excision. In the Nordic language
versions, the terms “extirpation”, “resection”, “enucleation” and “-ectomy” should be employed when their use describes
the procedure in question more precisely and is consistent with established usage in Nordic surgery.
• The term “lesion” embraces all kinds of local tissue changes, that is tumours in the clinical sense as well as flat tissue changes
or defects of a neoplastic, inflammatory, traumatic or any other pathologic nature.
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