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Pathology/Lab Coding Alert

Reader Question:

Focus on Fibroid Diagnosis

Published on Fri Oct 15, 2010

Question: When our pathologist diagnoses uterine fibroid tumors, what ICD-9 code should we use? Pennsylvania Subscriber Answer: You should choose the diagnosis based on the fibroid's location: • Submucous fibroids (218.0, Submucous leiomyoma of uterus) grow from the uterine wall toward the uterine cavity. They are also called intracavitary fibroids. • Intramural fibroids (218.1, Intramural leiomyoma of uterus) grow within the uterine wall (myometrium). They are also called interstitial fibroids. • Subserous fibroids (218.2, Subserous leiomyoma of uterus) grow outward from the uterine wall toward the abdominal cavity. They are also called subperitoneal fibroids. • If the physician does not specify the uterine fibroid's location, assign 218.9 (Leiomyoma of uterus, unspecified) as the diagnosis. CPT alert: You should code the pathology exam of uterus with leiomyomas as 88307 (Level V " Surgical pathology, gross and microscopic examination, uterus, with or without tubes and ovaries, other than neoplastic/prolapse). Although ICD-9 classifies [...]
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