AHA Coding Clinic® for ICD-9 - 1992 Third Quarter; Q & A

Incomplete percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA)

How do you code an incomplete percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) when the catheter never crosses the lesion? The cardiologists at our hospital do not agree with the November-December 1986 issue of Coding Clinic, which states: An incomplete transluminal (balloon) angioplasty involves an unsuccessful effort in advancing the catheter into the narrow (blocked) area of the artery or an unsuccessful effort in inflating the balloon tip. In this instance, code the procedure to the point carried out. If the catheter was advanced only to the point of the coronary artery obstruction or advanced into the obstructed area but the balloon could not be inflated, code the procedure as a cardiac catheterization. For other sites, code as arterial catheterization if the catheter could not be advanced into the obstructed area or the balloon tip could not be inflated. The cardiologists state that a heart catheterization is not performed since the catheter is inserted into the coronary arteries, not the heart chambers. ...

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