Ask Dr. Z

Can we bill this stent placement even if they had to remove it? Physician angioplasties two areas in the venous portion of an AV graft. In one of these areas there still remained a lot of dz, so it was decided at that point to place a stent. In deploying the stent, because of the narrowing, it created a "pumpkin seed" and migrated into the subclavian vein. They had to remove it by accessing the common femoral vein and used a snare device to remove it. They did not place another one after this. Would I code for the stent placement and/or code for the retrieval?