Orthopedic Coding Alert

Structure handled and not extent of excision is important when reporting for chronic osteomyelitis.When treating chronic osteomyelitis, your surgeon will intend to arrest infection, reduce pain, and retain function and structure of the limb. You may commonly get to read that your surgeon removed a segment of the infected bone, which is termed a sequestrectomy. "Saucerization is another term you may see which is removal of all dead bone and tissue, creating a "saucer effect" down to viable, clean tissue," says Bill Mallon, MD, former medical director, Triangle Orthopedic Associates, Durham, N.C. Here is how you can simplify your reporting for these procedures that sound complex. Sequestrectomy is a procedure that your surgeon does to remove a segment of dead bone that separates from the surrounding healthy bone. "This procedure is done if the infection has resulted in an area of bone that dies and separates from the surrounding bone [...]