2011 cardiology coding conferences In your cardiology coding career, you may be bowled over by questions such as these. "How do you go about a case with common carotid placement but both common and internal carotid imaging? This is what one coder wanted to know when she sent in the following scenario: Using femoral access and common carotid placement, the physician images the right common carotid and right internal carotid. The physician documents normal anatomy and says there're no abnormalities in the common carotid; however she finds stenosis in the internal carotid. Determine your answer and see if it matches the experts'. Image 2 vessels from same placement? This scenario indicates catheter placement terminated in the common carotid; however the cardiologist imaged both the common and internal carotid arteries. Assuming your documentation supports it, you'll be able to report imaging for both the common and internal carotid arteries. Rake in rightful right carotid fee Apart from imaging, you need to select the right catheter placement code. One key factor is whether the cardiologist worked in the left or right carotid arteries. Select ‘0' if ‘cerebral infarction' is absent Depending on the documentation, the right ICD-9 code for stenosis in the internal carotid alone is 433.1x (Occlusion and stenosis of precerebral arteries; carotid artery). You must add a fifth digit to the code, basing that digit on whether the physician documents cerebral infarction. You'll go for the following options: • 0 --without mention of cerebral infarction • 1 -- with cerebral infarction. If the doctor's dictation does not specifically state cerebral infarction is present, you should go for 433.10. To learn more ways to advance your angio skills, sign up for cardiology coding conferences. . In fact, the 2011 cardiology coding conferences is taking place in Orlando this December. So go for it and get answers to all your cardiology coding queries under one roof.