2025 CPT code 61626
(Active) Effective Date: N/A Surgery - Surgical Procedures on the Nervous System Surgery Feed
Transcatheter permanent occlusion or embolization, percutaneous, any method; non-central nervous system, head or neck (extracranial, brachiocephalic branch).
Modifiers may be applicable to 61626. For example, modifier 22 (Increased Procedural Services) may be used if the procedure is significantly more complex than usual.
Medical necessity for 61626 must be established by documenting the presence of a vascular malformation, tumor, or bleeding requiring embolization in the head and neck region.The documentation should support that less invasive methods have been unsuccessful or are contraindicated.
The physician is responsible for prepping and anesthetizing the patient, placing the guidewire and catheters, performing angiography, injecting the embolizing medium, and ensuring hemostasis.
In simple words: The doctor inserts a thin tube through the skin into an artery in the head or neck to block blood flow. This procedure may be done to treat a blood vessel abnormality, destroy a tumor, or stop bleeding.
This procedure involves the percutaneous occlusion of an artery outside the central nervous system in the head and neck region. It is used to treat vascular malformations, destroy tumors, or stop blood flow.The procedure involves placing a guidewire at the site of the defect, followed by an angiography catheter to visualize the vessels. The angiography catheter is then replaced with an embolization or occlusion catheter. Under fluoroscopic guidance, an embolizing medium is injected to block blood flow.
Example 1: A patient presents with a vascular malformation in the extracranial branches of the right external carotid artery. The physician performs a percutaneous transcatheter embolization using 61626 to occlude the malformation., A patient with a benign tumor in the neck requires embolization prior to surgical resection. The physician performs 61626 to reduce blood flow to the tumor and minimize bleeding during surgery., A patient experiences severe epistaxis (nosebleed) that cannot be controlled by conventional methods. Embolization is performed using 61626 to occlude the bleeding vessel in the head and neck region.
Documentation should include details of the vascular abnormality or tumor being treated, the method of embolization, the embolic agent used, fluoroscopy images, and confirmation of successful occlusion. Medical necessity for the procedure must be clearly documented.
- Specialties:Interventional Radiology, Neuroradiology, Vascular Surgery, Neurosurgery, Head and Neck Surgery.
- Place of Service:Ambulatory Surgical Center, Hospital Outpatient Department, Inpatient Hospital.