Wiki Breast Biopsy code

Trendale

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Hello,
Can someone explain to me the difference between the code 19101 vs 19120.

My physcian did a breast biopsy, a brief description reads:
An elliptical skin incision was used to excise an ellipse of skin along with a portion of the underlying mass. The specimen was submitted for frozen section, which confirmed invasive carcinoma.

In the CDR for 19101-The physcian removes tissue for BX. The mass is often examined imediately. 19120- the physcian excises breast tissue for BX. what is the difference between those two descriptions in the coders desk reference? I was going to use 19101 since the mass was not already determined (suspect mass)until the BX was done, and it was immediately examined after removed. I believe in 19120, the mass has already been examined previously, and the physcian goes in to excise it?

Thanks in advance!:eek:
 
If he's excising a portion of the mass then 19101 would be correct, but if he's excising the whole mass (even if it is for a bx) then use the 19120.
 
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