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35523 or 35525

Date: Apr 12, 2012

Question:

I love your site! my Physician asked that i send this to you. he is not sure of the codes for this procedure. he had on his list 37799 or 35525. thanks for your help. PROCEDURE IN DETAIL: The patient was taken to the operating room and placed in the supine position. Following smooth induction of general anesthesia, the right arm, hand and upper arm were prepped with Chloraprep Solution and draped with sterile linens. A longitudinal incision was made through the middle scar on the medial side of the upper arm, and with some difficult dissection, the brachial artery was mobilized over about 2 cm and retracted with a vessel loop. A second incision was made transversely just below the elbow through an old scar, and because of the scar the dissection was quite difficult and it was tedious, but ultimately the brachial artery was identified along with the ulnar and radial. It appeared that the ulnar branch was occluded from a previous anastomosis as there were Prolene sutures there. The artery would only have a pulse when the fistula was occluded. The vessels were small and were retracted with a vessel loop. A tunnel was then made between the two incisions, and a 5 mm, 30 cm. long Artegraft was placed through this tunnel after it had been flushed with heparinized saline 8 times with saline. The patient was given 3000 units of Heparin intravenously, and a Martin bandage was placed across the forearm, and a tourniquet was placed just above the elbow and inflated to 250 mmHg pressure. A longitudinal incision was made over the deep artery just below the wrist. An end-to-side anastomosis was fashioned with running 6-0 Prolene. The clamps were released and there was some bleeding through the graft, and the graft was flushed with saline and clamped. The brachial artery above the elbow was clamped and opened longitudinally over about a centimeter and a half, and a tapered vein was sutured end-to-side using running 6-0 Prolene. The clamps were released, and there was a good pulse in the vein and a much improved Doppler signal at the wrist. The two incisions were closed with 3-0 Vicryl and steri-strips.
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