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Anesthesia Coding Alert

Is the Procedure Arterial or Venous/Lymphatic?

Published on Tue Oct 01, 2002

With the anesthesia codes for interventional radiology distinguishing between arterial and venous/ lymphatic procedures, you must know which type of procedure was performed in order to code it correctly. Here are a few tips from McWhorter and Raley for helping determine the procedure type:

In general, most of today's radiological procedures are arterial-related; few venous diseases require treatment, and fewer still are amenable to radiological repair. Glean information from terminology in the patient's chart. Terms such as "thrombectomy" and "embolectomy" usually refer to arterial procedures; "stripping" usually implies venous surgery.

When in doubt, ask the physician for clarification. "Ligation," "interruption," "thrombosis" and "embolization" describe the destruction of vessels and can apply to both arterial or venous vessels. Check with the physician if these terms are used without specifying the vein or artery treated.
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