Retained intra-abdominal tubing after shunt removal. Use Z18.9???

kbeau78@gmail.comkbeau78@gmail.com
in Home Care Coding General
Good afternoon! I have a patient with hydrocephalus who developed an abscess behind his mastoid due to a malfunctioning VP shunt placed a decade ago). The shunt was removed but an MRI revealed the tubing was retained in the abdominal. We are seeing him for PICC care and antibiotics as Physician stated " given the lack of know pathogen (all labs showed none) and potential for GI source, as well as a retained intra-abdominal tubing and soft tissue abscess with the infection-consider the 3 wk course of antibiotics". I am going to code The "T85" code for infection BUT am unsure how to code retained tubing in abd or if it is necessary. Would "Z" code be appropriate? Thanks for the help!

Comments

  • BethBeth
    I would code it as it one of the reason for for the antibiotics and it may cause further problems.
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