Question

An 69-year-old male had a CT scan which revealed evidence of a proximal small bowel obstruction. Taken to the operating room where an elliptical abdominal incision was made, excising the skin and subcutaneous tissue. There were extensive adhesions along the entire length of the small bowel: the omentum and bowel were stuck up to the anterior abdominal wall. Time-consuming tedious lysis of adhesions was performed to free up the entire length of the gastrointestinal tract. What code would be assigned for this procedure?

A) 44180-59
B 44005
C) 44005-22
D) 44180-22

Answer 1

The code assigned for this procedure is B) 44005.

Step-by-step explanation:

The code that would be assigned for this procedure is B) 44005.

The given scenario describes a patient who had a CT scan revealing evidence of a proximal small bowel obstruction. The patient underwent surgery where an abdominal incision was made to excise the skin and subcutaneous tissue. Extensive adhesions were found along the entire length of the small bowel, and a time-consuming lysis of adhesions was performed to free up the gastrointestinal tract.

The code 44005 specifically represents the lysis of adhesions in the gastrointestinal tract, which matches the procedure described in the scenario. The modifiers -22 and -59 are not applicable in this case.

The correct code to be assigned for an operation involving time-consuming, tedious lysis of adhesions to free up the entire length of the gastrointestinal tract due to extensive adhesions along the small bowel is C) 44005-22. This code represents an enterolysis (freeing of intestinal adhesion) with an increased procedural services modifier (22), indicating that the work required to perform the procedure was substantially greater than typically required.