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Anesthesia Coding Alert

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Radioactive Seed Implants

Published on Tue Jan 01, 2002

Test your coding knowledge.  Determine how you would code this situation before looking at the box below for the answer.

Question: Which anesthesia code applies to radioactive seed implant procedures for treating prostate cancer? I'm not being reimbursed for reporting the radiation therapy code (01922, anesthesia for noninvasive imaging or radiation therapy).

Michigan Subscriber

    Answer: Anesthesia coding will depend partly on how the procedure is performed. Use CPT 00860 (anesthesia for extraperitoneal procedures in lower abdomen, including urinary tract; not otherwise specified) for an open procedure that exposes the prostate. If the surgeon uses needles and catheters inserted through the rectum to place the seeds (55859, transperineal placement of needles or catheters into prostate for interstitial radioelement application, with or without cystoscopy), report anesthesia with 00400 (anesthesia for procedures on the integumentary system on the extremities, anterior trunk and perineum; not otherwise specified). Verify which type of procedure was performed before coding for the anesthesia.
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