Radiology Coding Alert

Question: I noticed that the descriptor for CPT 75960 says to code for each vessel. Would you give me an example of how to use this?


Wisconsin Subscriber

Answer: The point here is that you need to report the codes for each vessel rather than each stent.

One-vessel example: The physician places two stents in the contralateral external iliac (with no diagnostic angiography or angioplasty).

You should report access code 36246 (Selective catheter placement, arterial system; initial second order abdominal, pelvic, or lower extremity artery branch, within a vascular family) once, surgical component code 37205 (Transcatheter placement of an intravascular stent[s] [except coronary, carotid, and vertebral vessel], percutaneous; initial vessel) once, and supervision and interpretation code 75960 (Transcatheter introduction of intravascular stent[s] [except coronary, carotid and vertebral vessel], percutaneous and/or open, radiological supervision and interpretation, each vessel) once.

Two-vessel example: The physician places one stent in the right common iliac artery and one stent in the right external iliac artery, again by a contralateral approach without diagnostic angiography or angioplasty. Report 36247 (... initial third order or more selective abdominal, pelvic, or lower extremity artery branch, within a vascular family) once, 37205 once, +37206 (Transcatheter placement of an intravascular stent[s] [except coronary, carotid, and vertebral vessel], percutaneous; each additional vessel [list separately in addition to code for primary procedure]) once, and 75960 twice.

Caution: The codes for stent placement include a number of services that you should not code separately. These include follow-up angiography and codes representing angioplasty for deploying and placing the stent.