# Failed back surgery syndrome?



## katrinabgood (Jun 18, 2009)

Took me a while to figure this one out... the doc had written "FBBS," I went a little nuts trying to figure out what that extra *B* meant.  Come to find out she meant to say FB*S*S, standing for "failed back surgery syndrome."    ANYWAY... is there a code for this?  I used v454 for history of spinal fusion, but is there a way to indicate that this was unsuccessful?


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## RebeccaWoodward* (Jun 18, 2009)

Failed Back Syndrome=Post Laminectomy Syndrome (722.80)  The region of the spine would change the 5th digit...cervical, thoracic, lumbar...


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## katrinabgood (Jun 18, 2009)

Wow!  That was fast!  Thank you!


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## ITAIRHART (Jul 31, 2011)

*post laminectomy vs post laminectomy syndrome*

When a physician documents "post laminectomy and fusion", and doesn't further elaborate, I was told by another coder that since the pt had a laminectomy, this automatically implies the patient has "Post laminectomy Syndrome" 722xx.  

I disagree, since the physician is only stating that the pt is post surgery; Not that the surgery failed.

(We code for the physician, not the hospital) I was coding this as v45.4 to indicate the pt is post fusion/which includes the surgery.  I've always understood that PLS and FBS (failed back syndrome) means that the laminectomy/surgery failed, and that the pt has continued chronic pain...

Please give me your thoughts on the matter,

Thanks!


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