# Incarcerated v.s. Non-Carcerated



## ruthan (Apr 15, 2015)

Hoping someone in the coding world out there can help me and direct me to some documentation regarding this question...

If a patient comes in with a Hernia, and they are saying hernia defect is preperitoneal fat....  is this considered to be a incarcerated or does it have to contain bowel to actually be considered incarcerated?


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## rlh27 (Apr 15, 2015)

A spigelian hernia is a spontaneous protrusion of preperitoneal fat, a peritoneal sac or, less commonly, a sac containing a viscus, through the Spigelian zone (fascia) at any point along its length. It generally presents as a bulge in the lower, abdominal wall lateral to the rectus muscle on the right or left side. A spigelian hernia is rare, and incarceration of this type of hernia is even more rare. Any type of spigelian hernia repair is coded as 49590.

Hope this helps.


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## JEYCPC (Apr 15, 2015)

I found this by googling:

An incarcerated hernia is a type of hernia characterized by the fact that the herniated tissue becomes trapped in the hernial sack. Most commonly, this type of hernia presents as an abdominal hernia involving the bowels. Incarcerated hernias are considered surgical emergencies, and they require immediate medical treatment to avoid serious complications.


http://www.wisegeek.org/what-is-an-incarcerated-hernia.htm

They state it is most commonly involving the bowels, which means not always.


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## ruthan (Apr 15, 2015)

I don't think we are talking about the same thing.  I am talking in regards to any type of hernia... would you consider it to be incarcerated if any hernia contains fat only... maybe I was confusing when posing my question...


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