Wiki Thickening

[solocoder]

Radiologists like to say "mucosal thickening" or "thickening" regarding all different areas of the body, from intestines to bladder, to sinuses. I can never decide if thickening should be considered a "specified" disorder or an "unspecified" disorder?
Any thoughts?

 

[thomas7331]

Personally, I would not code it is unless a physician had linked that finding to a particular disease process. It's not clear to me that 'thickening' is really a disorder with clinical significance or just an incidental finding. At most, if it prompted additional evaluation or treatment, I would consider it an 'abnormal finding' and probably use a code from the R93 series.