Wiki 27427 Which ligamens are intra-articular and which are extra-articular?

[Orthocoderpgu]

Does anyone know which ligaments are intra-articular & which are extra-articular? That would help in choosing 27427, 27428 & 27429.

 

[trose45116]

Does anyone know which ligaments are intra-articular & which are extra-articular? That would help in choosing 27427, 27428 & 27429.

The Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) & Posterior Cruciate Ligament (PCL) have a central location inside the joint (intraarticular) while the Medial Collateral Ligament (MCL) & Lateral Collateral Ligament (LCL) are located on the inner and outer sides of the knee joint (extra-articular).

 

[shecodes]

Unfortunately, it's not always that straight forward.

While the ligament is a good starting point, you must also take into consideration the type of repair being performed. I've copied a piece of a CPT assistant below to give you an example.

Sometimes, when repairing an ACL, the surgeon may chose to combine an intra-articular repair (ie, bone-patella-bone) with an extra-articular repair (ie, hamstrings). In that case code 27429, Ligamentous reconstruction (augmentation), knee; intra-articular, (open) and extra-articular,is the correct code to report.