C39: Malignant neoplasm of other and ill-defined sites in the respiratory system and intrathoracic organs

C39.8: Malignant neoplasm: Overlapping lesion of respiratory and intrathoracic organs

The tissue in the body is made up of cells. With cancer, the cells multiply uncontrollably, which leads to a malignant neoplasm (abnormal growth of tissue) developing. The cancer cells can destroy the healthy tissue and spread throughout the body.

The cells in several places in your chest or the respiratory tract have multiplied uncontrollably. This can mean cancer in the respiratory tract or in other organs of the chest. In the chest are the heart, the lungs, the gullet, the aorta and the thymus. The thymus is part of the immune system.

Please note: This ICD code may also derive from the ICD-O system. If this is the case, there are usually additional letters and numbers in addition to the code. It starts with the letter M, followed by 4 digits and then a slash. There is another digit after the slash.

If it is an ICD-O code, then this does not describe a malignant cancer in all cases. The last digit after the slash gives you more detailed information about this: