Neurosurgery Coding Alert

Question: The neurosurgeon performed a laminectomy to remove an extradural growth in the patient’s lumbar spine. The intraspinal lesion was not a neoplasm. Which code should I report for this procedure?

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Answer: You should report 63267 (Laminectomy for excision or evacuation of intraspinal lesion other than neoplasm, extradural; lumbar) for this procedure. Note that the descriptor specifies that the intraspinal lesion cannot be a neoplasm if you report this code. One example of such a lesion is an intraspinal synovial cyst, which arises from a degenerative facet joint.

Don’t miss: You must check the medical documentation and see exactly where on the patient’s spine the neurosurgeon removed the lesion. For other areas besides the lumbar spine, you can look to the following codes:

• 63265 (Laminectomy for excision or evacuation of intraspinal lesion other than neoplasm, extradural; cervical)
• 63266 (… thoracic)
• 63268 (… sacral)