LindaS_62015
New member
When the physician says that the patient has a "Malfunctioning VP shunt" as his diagnosis how should this be coded? Per the record the VP sunt was damaged during a mastectomy on a previous encounter. The ventricular portion of the shunt was previously removed. The patient comes in now with cellulitis of the neck and a protruding tube 10cm coming out of her neck. The patient pulled some of the shunt out before coming to the ED. Even though the physician documents VP shunt Malfunctioning...is this still considered a VP shunt complication, or retained device/foriegn body? The remaining portion of the shunt was removed during this encounter. The surgeon said that the shunt was removed by pulling on the tube in the chest and 25 cm was removed from the peritoneal cavity. A separate incision was made in the left neck and a portion of tube was removed from the subcutaneous tissue. What PCS codes should be assigned? I have PCS codes 0WPGX0Z, 0JPS00Z but want to see if I'm on the right track. Thank you, Linda