# Carotid body tumor embolization code



## whitingm (Mar 22, 2012)

Carotid body tumor embolization was performed.
The ascending Pharyngeal artery Off The External carotid) was catherized and
embolization of feeder performed. We are sayinfg 61626 (extracranial) for procedure code.
Physician saying 61624 (intracranial)
Any thoughts would be welcome.


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## jmcpolin (Mar 22, 2012)

well the top of the external is into the cranium so  if the pharyngeal comes off of the external it would be intracranial


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## jmcpolin (Mar 22, 2012)

you know I have been looking at pictures online because I dont have my interventional purple book anymore and it is kind of iffy, some pictures show the external extending into the cranium and then some pics show the pharyngeal in the neck region.


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## dpeoples (Mar 22, 2012)

whitingm said:


> Carotid body tumor embolization was performed.
> The ascending Pharyngeal artery Off The External carotid) was catherized and
> embolization of feeder performed. We are sayinfg 61626 (extracranial) for procedure code.
> Physician saying 61624 (intracranial)
> Any thoughts would be welcome.



There are some unusual circumstances where the physician goes through the external carotid artery and subsequent vessels back into the intracranial arteries and would warrant the intracranial embolization code if performed (61624). However, the pharngeal artery is an extracranial artery and the correct embolization code for this would be 61626.

HTH


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## whitingm (Mar 22, 2012)

*Cartotid Body tumor embolization*

In this case the tumor is located at the carotid bifurcation and the ascending Pharyngeal
begins off the External carotid. If this was for an intracranial meningioma it would be 
61624 intra but this really looks extracranial to me.   Thanks for the expert thoughts.
Any more expert thoughts are appreciated


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