Ask Dr. Z

I would appreciate your assistance on an issue we are having with the correct codes to use in the following situation: Access was from the right common femoral. The catheter was placed in left internal iliac, superior gluteal, and two separate branches of the superior gluteal (36247, 36248). The left external iliac was then catheterized. I feel that the left external iliac should be reported with code 36248 since these vessels are in the same vascular family (contralateral common iliac family per vessel ordering table from the SIR manual). The other opinion is that the left external iliac should be reported with code 36246 based on your pelvic arterial anatomy chart. Can you clear this up for us?