# New to Ortho, need help



## JenReyn99 (Oct 28, 2010)

Hey all, any help is greatly appreciated. I have an op report, and I'm just a little gun-shy with ortho as it's very new to me.

The procedure performed was :Open reduction, internal fixation of right ankle syndesmotic injury with TightRope syndesmotic fixation from Arthrex.

The op report in part states:

Incision was made over distal fibula, soft tissues spread until palpation of posterior fibula was evident. After this, a guidewire was placed from posterolateral to anteromedial from the distal fibula through the medial malleolus reducing the syndesmosis with a bone clamp initially to ensure that the syndesmosis was reduced. The initial TightRope configuration reduced the fracture nicely even before the bone clamp. Over the guidewire, a cannulated drill was used to drill through the tibia and fibula, and then the TightRope fixation system was inserted, passage with a guide pin. The washer was toggled on the medial cortex of the tibia, and then the sutures were tightened down to bring the buttress of the distal fibula to allow closure of the tibia-fibula overlap. Just superiorly to this, approximately less than 1 cm, a second drill was used from posteriorly on the fibula to anteromedially throught the tibia, again bringing the fixation device through and tightening down the syndesmosis. Two fixation points were used secondary to the high proximal fibula syndesmotic injury. 

I think that maybe this falls into code 27829, but I'm not sure if there is another code I need to use instead or in addition. Please help! Thank you so much!


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## SewSome2 (Oct 28, 2010)

Jen
That code sounds right to me.  The tight-rope is just the device they use to pull the tibia and fibula back together.

I do not have the code book in front of me since I am at home, but I am pretty sure the code you listed was the open reduction for syndesmotic injury.

Ella


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## drado72 (Oct 29, 2010)

27829 is correct


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## JenReyn99 (Nov 1, 2010)

*Thanks*

Thank you both very much! It's always good to know you're on the right track! :0)


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