Ob-Gyn Coding Alert

You may have to wait for the pathology report. Fibroids and polyps are similar because they're both growths, but one occurs in the endometrial lining while the other occurs in the muscle. Can you guess which one is which? Here's the answer. Polyps are small growths on the surface of the uterine wall that are easy for the ob-gyn to remove. In other words, they are an overgrowth of the endometrial lining. They're intracavitary lesions. Fibroids (or myomas) are larger and are usually imbedded in the smooth muscle of the uterine wall. They are almost always benign, but in rare circumstances, they can become a sarcoma (muscle cancer). These growths require more work to remove; hence the procedures associated with fibroids tend to have higher relative value units (RVUs). Fibroids form in three main locations: Submucous fibroids (218.0) grow from the uterine wall toward the uterine cavity. They are also [...]