# Foreign body in proximal esophagus



## Merlin0728 (Oct 13, 2014)

I am looking for opinions on which CPT code to use for the following surgery.
Any suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Procedure: Removal of foreign body from the proximal esophagus. 

Indications: A 5 year old child was seen just after having swallowed a small poker type chip that has gotten lodged in his upper esophagus. This was confirmed with x-ray. This was felt to be in the very proximal esophagus, around or within the cricopharyngeal region of the esophagus.

Description of procedure:  With the patient supine, under general anesthesia, a straight laryngeal scope was utilized and just taken behind the airway through the cricopharyngeus in the proximal esophagus so that the chip could be visualized. Once visualized, a McGill forceps was used to grasp the chip and then pull it out without difficulty. There was very minimal trauma to the cricopharyngeus to the mucosa.

Should the procedure be coded based on the location of the foreign body or the scope used? I'm looking at codes 31511, 31530,43194, or 43215.

Thank you for your help!


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