Radiology Coding Alert

Question: I have a request to schedule surgery for the stenting of right internal carotid artery following a diagnosis of Dissection of RT ICA. What code(s) should I use to code the surgery?

California Subscriber

Answer You can report the internal carotid artery (ICA) stent with either CPT^® code 37215 (Transcatheter placement of intravascular stent(s), cervical carotid artery, open or percutaneous, including angioplasty, when performed, and radiological supervision and interpretation; with distal embolic protection) or 37216 (…; without distal embolic protection). The primary difference between the two codes is if the provider used a filter or not. The filter, or a distal embolic protection device, helps capture debris away from the center of the body or the structure’s point of attachment during surgical intervention.

Important: You should indicate the provider performed the internal carotid artery stent on the right side by appending modifier RT (Right side).

Remember: Be sure to not to report 37215 or 37216 in conjunction with 36222-36224 (Selective catheter placement …) for the treated carotid artery.

A dissection is a tear of the inner layer of the wall of an artery, and the doctor has diagnosed a dissection of the RT ICA, which you will code as I77.71 (Dissection of carotid artery).