AMA CPT® Assistant - 2007 Issue 12 (December)
Surgery: Integumentary System (December 2007)
December 2007 page 7 Coding Communication:Surgery: Integumentary System Question: What is the appropriate code to report a skin-sparing mastectomy? How is the work of sparing the nipple reflected? Answer: When the physician describes a skin-sparing mastectomy, he or she is performing a subcutaneous mastectomy, CPT code 19304, Mastectomy, subcutaneous, to remove the breast but spare the skin. The nipple sparing has to do with the location of the tumor and whether it is far enough away from the nipple and does not change the subcutaneous dissection performed. Sparing the nipple is sometimes difficult because an inadequate blood supply may...
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