AMA CPT® Assistant - 2007 Issue 12 (December)
Surgery: Integumentary System (December 2007)
December 2007 page 8c Coding Communication:Surgery: Integumentary System Question: What is the appropriate code to report a skinsparing mastectomy? Answer: When the physician describes a skin-sparing mastectomy, they are performing a subcutaneous mastectomy (ie, 19304, Mastectomy, subcutaneous) to remove the breast but spare the skin. The nipple sparing has to do with the location of the tumor and whether it is far enough away from the nipple but does not change the subcutaneous dissection performed. Sparing the nipple is sometimes difficult because an inadequate blood supply may lead to its future loss. If the surgeon believes more work is...
To read the full article, sign in and subscribe to the AMA CPT® Assistant.
Thank you for choosing Find-A-Code, please Sign In to remove ads.