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Anesthesia Coding Alert

READER QUESTIONS:

00400 Best Bet for Chest Wall Mass Excision

Published on Tue Nov 01, 2005

Question: What code should I report for excision of arteriovascular malformation in the chest wall?


Vermont Subscriber


Answer: The chest wall--where the patient's malformation is located--is muscle. Consequently, the best code is 00400 (Anesthesia for procedures on the integumentary system on the extremities, anterior trunk and perineum; not otherwise specified) because the surgeon performed a skin/muscle procedure.
 
Some coders wonder if 00560 (Anesthesia for procedures on heart, pericardial sac, and great vessels of chest; without pump oxygenator) or 00562 (- with pump oxygenator) might apply to this procedure. Because the chest wall is muscle and does not involve the heart or great vessels, 00400 is the more accurate choice.
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