CPT Knowledgebase - Jan 11, 2016

A patient diagnosed with pancreatic cancer is scheduled for an open Whipple procedure (48150). Immediately prior to performing the open Whipple procedure, the physician performs a diagnostic laparoscopy to assess the extent of the disease. If there is metastatic disease, the physician will not proceed with the Whipple procedure, and the only service reported will be for the laparoscopy (49320). If the patient does not have metastatic disease and the physician proceeds with the open Whipple procedure at the same surgical encounter, is it appropriate to report code 49320 in addition to code 48150?

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