Neurosurgery Coding Alert
You Be the Coder:
Use Brain Tumor Codes for Vestibular Schwannoma Excision
Published on Thu Apr 11, 2013
Question: How do we report a retromastoid craniotomy for resection of a vestibular schwannoma 3cm in diameter?
Answer: You report code 61520 (Craniectomy for excision of brain tumor, infratentorial or posterior fossa; cerebellopontine angle tumor) for the vestibular schwannoma excision. If an operating microscope is used for microdissection, you may additionally report 69990 (Microsurgical techniques, requiring use of operating microscope [List separately in addition to code for primary procedure]).
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