In simple words: This code covers the anesthesia given to a patient having surgery or a procedure inside their chest, like on their lungs or heart, through an opening in the chest wall. It includes the anesthesiologist's work before, during, and right after the surgery.

This code represents anesthesia services provided for thoracotomy procedures that involve the lungs, pleura, diaphragm, and mediastinum, including surgical thoracoscopy, when no other specific anesthesia code applies. The procedures themselves are performed by another provider (surgeon). The anesthesiologist's responsibilities include pre-operative evaluation, inducing anesthesia, monitoring the patient throughout the procedure, administering medications, managing fluids/blood, and overseeing post-anesthesia care. Standard monitoring (ECG, temperature, blood pressure, oximetry, capnography, mass spectrometry) is included. Unusual monitoring (e.g., Swan-Ganz catheters) may be coded separately.

Example 1: A patient undergoes a surgical thoracoscopy to remove a lung mass. Code 00540 is used to report the anesthesia services., A patient with a spontaneous pneumothorax requires a chest tube insertion. While local anesthesia is often used, if general anesthesia becomes necessary due to poor tolerance, 00540 would be appropriate., A patient undergoes a decortication procedure (removal of scar tissue from the lung surface). Since decortication has a dedicated code (00542), it would not be reported with 00540. Instead, 00542 is chosen to precisely describe the anesthesia service.

Documentation should include pre-operative evaluation, type and amount of medications, monitoring methods, patient responses, anesthesia start and stop times, and post-anesthesia care notes.