Ask Dr. Z

What CPT would be best to use since the provider only replaced the valve on the pleural catheter?

Patient was positioned in the semiright lateral decubitus position and the left chest and pre-existing catheter were prepped and draped in usual sterile fashion. Preliminary fluoroscopic images demonstrate satisfactory positioning of the catheter. Ultrasound of the left chest demonstrated a large left pleural effusion. A syringe was attached to the catheter valve and aspirations were attempted. No pleural fluid was aspirated. Given these findings, the pre-existing valve was removed after which copious amounts of pleural fluid was noted to be draining through the catheter. As a result, the valve was replaced and aspiration yielded pleural fluid via the new valve. Approximately 1200 mL of yellow fluid was then removed successfully without incident.