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Otolaryngology Coding Alert

Reader Question:

Straighten Out Functions of Specific Sinusectomy Codes

Published on Mon Mar 19, 2012

Question: When should I report sinusectomy codes? When a surgeon suctions purulent mucoid material from any of the sinuses, is this considered removal of tissue and reported with codes 31254/31255, 31267, or 31288?Texas SubscriberAnswer: With all of these codes, the surgeon must perform a sinusostomy (opening up the sinus opening). You will find no different codes for tissue removal versus just opening up the sinuses when referring to the ethmoid sinuses. So, when working with 31254 (Nasal/sinus endoscopy, surgical; with ethmoidectomy, partial [anterior]), 31255 (...with ethmoidectomy, total [anterior and posterior]), you do not have to be concerned with whether tissue removal is documented or not.Before you can report 31267 (Nasal/sinus endoscopy, surgical with maxillary antrostomy; with removal of tissue from maxillary sinus), or 31288 (...with sphenoidotomy; with removal of tissue from the sphenoid sinus), there, however, has to be documentation of the removal of tissue, thus reason for your question [...]
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