General Surgery Coding Alert

In the November issue of General Surgery Coding Alert on p. 39, we incorrectly stated that starred procedure 10060 (incision and drainage of abscess [e.g., carbuncle, suppurative hidradenitis, cutaneous or subcutaneous abscess, cyst, furuncle or paronychia]; simple or single) had 0 global days. In fact, 10060 has a 10-day global period.

And in an article on sentinel node biopsy in the December issue on p. 42, we attributed a number of statements incorrectly to Sandra Schultz, MD, a general surgeon in Gastonia, N.C. Schultz was not the source of our statement that axillary lymph node dissection could trigger a new cancer. This procedure was not necessarily effective because the cancer may have bypassed the axillary region. Nor did she state that sentinel node biopsy tells the surgeon where the cancer has spread. Schultz also disputes the percentage of false negatives obtained by sentinel node biopsy. The article said 2 percent, but Schultz maintains that 5 to 15 percent of sentinel node biopsy negatives are false. Finally, the article omitted the fact that Tina Kendrick, a coder in Schultz office, is a CPC.

General Surgery Coding Alert regrets the errors.