Wiki Bladder tumor removal

[dadhich.girish]

Hi:

I read in the Feb issue of Coding Edge, there was discussion about bladder tumor removal. It was about coding 52234, 52235, and 52240 in same session if the tumors fall in different categories, i.e., SMALL, MEDIUM, and LARGE. My question is CCI edit does not allow use of any combination of these codes. Please help.


52234 [Cystourethroscopy, with fulguration (including cryosurgery or laser surgery) and/or resection of; SMALL bladder tumor(s) (0.5 up to 2.0 cm)]

52235 [..........; MEDIUM bladder tumor(s) (2.0 to 5.0 cm)]

52240 [..........; LARGE bladder tumor(s)]

 

[bethh05]

I was taught to code for the largest tumor only; ie, if he resects a small and a large tumor in the same procedure only code for the large tumor.

 

[Kelly_Mayumi]

This is also what I have learned. Because the code includes in the terminology tumor(s), this includes one or many tumors to remove.