Please note this question was answered in 2018. The coding advice may or may not be outdated.
Needle and Catheter Aspiration Pleura
Date: Feb 26, 2018
Question:
Patient had a microwave ablation on the left lung. Post ablation showed a posterior pneumothorax that was drained by a needle and an anterior-lateral pneumothorax drained with catheter placement. Is the pleural space considered one surgical field and code for the catheter placement (32557) along with the ablation? Or do we code for both the needle aspiration (32555-59) and the catheter placement?
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