# Tonsillectomy W/Revision Adenoidectomy



## ieshiarenee (Sep 14, 2016)

We have a patient (age 3) who had a primary tonsillectomy and a revision adenoidectomy. How would you code this? 
Normally, a T & A would be coded 42820/42821 depending on the age of the patient, but the revision adenoid is throwing me off.  
I tried coding 42825, 42836, but that is incorrect. Any thoughts?


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## cpc2007 (Sep 19, 2016)

I would report the combined tonsillectomy/adenoidectomy codes (42820/42821) even if the adenoidectomy is secondary since the code descriptor for these codes does not differentiate primary vs. secondary for the tonsillectomy or the adenoidectomy.  I was able to locate a supercoder.com coding alert that is open source online and supported this guidance: https://www.supercoder.com/coding-n...es-secondary-matter-for-adenoidectomy-article.  Also the presence of the NCCI edit prohibiting reporting the primary tonsillectomy code with a secondary adenoidectomy code would lead us back to reporting this combined code as well.

I hope that helps .


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## ieshiarenee (Sep 22, 2016)

Yes, it does help. That is what I was thinking, but confirmation from another coder makes me feel better. Thanks so much.


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