You Be the Coder:
Nitroglycerin Injection During Angioplasty
Published on Wed Aug 01, 2001
Test your coding knowledge. Determine how you would code this situation before looking at the box below for the answer.
Question: A patient was given nitroglycerin via intra-arterial injection, through the Balkan sheath, to prevent vasospasm during an angioplasty procedure. Can I report 37202 in addition to the angioplasty codes?
Washington Subscriber
Answer: No, in this situation the intra-arterial injection is incidental to the angioplasty procedure and is not reported separately with 37202 (transcatheter therapy, infusion other than for thrombolysis, any type [e.g., spasmolytic, vasoconstrictive]).
The scenario describes an injection of nitroglycerin -- a short, single bolus -- while CPT 37202 is defined as an infusion service. An infusion usually reflects a longer period of continuous medication administration. One example of when 37202 would be appropriately reported is the infusion of vasopressin to control a gastrointestinal bleed.
In the scenario described, you should assign only codes that describe the angioplasty itself (e.g., 35473, transluminal balloon angioplasty, percutaneous; iliac with 75978, transluminal balloon angioplasty, venous [e.g., subclavian stenosis], radiological supervision and interpretation).
