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Removal of occluded stent during endarterectomy
Question:
"Procedures performed:
1) Bilateral common femoral endarterectomy with patch angioplasty.
2) Removal of obstructive stent over left profunda femoris artery necessitating additional 60 minutes of surgical time.
3) Heavy scarlike tissue around left common femoral artery necessitating additional 30 minutes of surgical time.
We then turned our attention to the left side. An arteriotomy using 11 blade and Potts scissors this was actually quite difficult as the stent was overriding so much and at the common femoral artery we were unable to actually identify the backwall of the common femoral artery. We were eventually able to get into the common femoral artery and had to remove the initial 2 cm of stent and an additional 1 cm of stent so that we would be able to close everything in the proximal superficial femoral artery. There was minimal blood flow able to get into the profunda femoris artery but we were able to remove all the plaquing as well as the stent that was causing the majority of the issue."
Is the stent removal included in code 35371?
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