Wiki Valve Replacement & Endarterectomy

[cmblocher]

Help! The surgeon is doing an aortic valve replacement with a prosthetic valve (33405). He also did an aortic root endarterectomy. I can't seem to find a code that describes the aortic root endarterectomy. I'm wodering if this is bundled with 33405. Any help would be great.

 

[Coder708]

Hi I don't have a Cpt book around me but if I recall there is a 33863 aortic root replacement code. Our doc's often perform Aortic root wraps and we use unlisted code 33999.. Hope this helps.

 

[cmblocher]

Thank you for your help. The problem is that he doesn't dictate that a replacement was done. He just states it was endartectomized. This is where I am getting confused.

 

[lisammy]

It sounds like unless he dictated a replacement or dictated it as a "Bentall", he was just preparing the aortic root and then it would be considered incidental and you would only bill the 33405. You may need to ask the surgeon and if necessary have him correct his dictation. Hope this helps