Otolaryngology Coding Alert

Make the most of surgical procedure modifiers when hunting for the right code.Where conservative treatment has failed, endoscopic transnasal approach for ligation of the sphenopalatine artery may be the surgical technique of choice for control of a severe epistaxis. But did you know that no CPT® code exists specifically for this operative procedure? Let's say a patient with coagulopathy has epistaxis which has not been controlled with nasal packing. The bleeding originates from the posterior nasal cavity of the posterior ethmoid artery or a branch of the sphenopalatine artery. To control the nose bleed, the otolaryngologist decides to perform an endoscopic transnasal sphenopalatine artery ligation.When you're left without a definite CPT® code to describe the procedure, you should look at other similar codes, and try to work around it. Let's explore your options with the following codes.31238: Upgrade Endoscopic Control of Nasal Hemorrhage With Modifier 22CPT® 2011 guidelines for modifier [...]