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Orthopedic Coding Alert

Reader Question:

Lavage Irrigation

Published on Mon Oct 01, 2001

Question: What is the CPT code for lavage irrigation of the right knee joint? We used about 500 cc of saline to irrigate the knee joint, which was penetrated by an open fracture.

Florida Subscriber  
Answer: The term lavage refers to washing out or cleansing of a wound, in this case an open wound of the knee joint associated with an open fracture. If your physician performed a formal debridement, then he would report both the code for treating the fracture and a code from the 11010-11012 series. No additional code would be reported for the pulsatile lavage of the knee wound.   
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