Pathology/Lab Coding Alert
Mastectomy and Lymph Nodes
Yogini Shroff
Jersey City, N.J.
Answer: Code 88309 is appropriate for a mastectomy specimen with regional lymph nodes. For the second question: If the testes are submitted, separately labeled with a specific request for each, they would be treated as separate accessions.
Editors note: Answers were provided by Kenneth E. Wolfgang, HT (ASCP), CPC, CPC-H, president and CEO of Wolfgang Associates Inc. Health Services Consulting, a coding and consultation company in Portland, Ore., that focuses on hospital pathology labs.
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