kewing
Networker
I have a patient who is having chest pain and was stented 3 weeks prior to presentation. I was reading previous threads regarding the coding for stents and I am not comfortable with the suggestions on how to code the presence of stents as a potential risk/complicating factor. V45.81 does not seem appropriate to me because the stent is not actually a graft--it is a tube placed to maintain vessel patency. V45.82 also does not seem appropriate because that procedure is not specified in the note. Follow-up codes would not be used because those are surveillance codes--in my mind that indicates there are no presenting issues, we are just making sure that everything is ok following the procedure. SO--my questions are these: 1. Does anyone have any thoughts or comments on my reasoning above? 2. Would V43.4--Organ or tissue replaced by other means(includes organ or tissue assisted by other means) Blood Vessel--be an appropriate alternative?