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I need help! My surgeon did a skin marking tatoo on a breast cancer patient. She is telling me she has seen a code in the past(that rad/onc uses) for this. She the 11920 is inappropriate. Please help!!!!
This is what the op note states (she had it done at the same time as a port placement)
"I then went to the right breast and used ultrasound and palpatation to mark the upper outer borders of the cancer at the 10 o'clock and 1 o'clock positions. The skin has been cleansed. I used a 20-guage needle and made two small infiltrations. One of the infiltrations went in, in a very strange fashion,but I have warned the patient about this, and there is discoloration of the skin medially."
ADDENDUM
" The patient has a core diagnosed right breast cancer, but no clip had been placed. She is undergoing neoadjuvant chemotherapy and therefore some marking needed to be done to delineate the extent of the cancer to be able to figure out where to go back if the neoadjuvant chemotheapy completely clears up the breast cancer. Rather than making a new incision and placing a clip marker, I elected to use the radiology black dye and using ultrasound I was able to make the edges of the cancer as it exists today. I will use these marks to guide my surgery if the cancer completely is taken care of and disappears with the neoadjuvant chemotherapy to guide me for where to return for the breast surgery."
