ICD-10-PCS Billable Code

0T144Z3

Bypass Kidney Pelvis, Left to Kidney Pelvis, Right with No Device, Percutaneous Endoscopic Approach

Procedural Specifications

Clinical Axis Detail Definition
Section0 Medical and Surgical
Body SystemT Urinary System
Operation1 Bypass
Body Part4 Kidney Pelvis, Left
Approach4 Percutaneous Endoscopic
DeviceZ No Device
Qualifier3 Kidney Pelvis, Right

Operation Definition

Altering the route of passage of the contents of a tubular body part

Procedure Overview

Bypass procedures in the urinary system reroute the flow of urine around a damaged, obstructed, or diseased segment so it can drain through a new path instead. Common examples include an ileal conduit or continent urinary diversion after bladder removal, a ureteroneocystostomy that reconnects a ureter to the bladder at a new site, or a yeloureteral bypass for a blocked ureteropelvic junction. These operations are performed when a tumor, stricture, chronic obstruction, or a failed bladder makes normal drainage unsafe, since backed-up urine can damage the kidneys or cause repeated infections.

Patients typically encounter these procedures alongside cancer treatment, after trauma, or when a congenital narrowing has caused progressive kidney damage. The new pathway may be temporary, to protect a healing repair, or permanent, when the original structure cannot be salvaged.

Anatomy & Axis Detail

Kidney Pelvis, Left

The left kidney pelvis collects urine from the major calyces before it drains into the ureter, and bypass is performed when a fixed obstruction at or near the ureteropelvic junction cannot be relieved by simpler means, threatening progressive hydronephrosis and loss of renal function. Rerouting urine flow around the blocked segment protects the kidney while avoiding removal of functioning parenchyma. On the left side, the procedure occurs near the spleen, splenic flexure of the colon, and left renal vessels, which shapes the operative approach relative to the right. The new conduit created during bypass, whether to the ureter, another segment of urinary tract, or an external stoma, becomes the qualifier that defines the procedure, and accurate identification of that route is essential for correct code assignment.

Approach: Percutaneous Endoscopic

Percutaneous Endoscopic combines a puncture through skin or mucous membrane with insertion of an endoscope to visualize the procedure internally, as in laparoscopic cholecystectomy. It is distinguished from plain Percutaneous by the presence of scope-guided visualization, and from Via Natural or Artificial Opening Endoscopic by its route being a new puncture rather than an existing orifice or stoma.

Qualifier: Kidney Pelvis, Right

Kidney Pelvis, Right specifies that a bypass procedure originates from or reroutes the funnel-shaped collecting structure of the right kidney, such as a pyeloileal or pyelovesical diversion. It differentiates the laterality of the renal pelvis involved so the code reflects which kidney's drainage pathway was altered. It is distinguished from the Left qualifier only by side, not by procedure type.

Coding & Documentation

Coders assign Bypass when documentation confirms a new route was created "from" one urinary structure "to" another (or to the skin, as in a conduit), rather than a repair of the existing channel. The operative note must name both the bypass origin and the qualifier destination, since the seventh-character qualifier changes with the target (bladder, ileum, cutaneous, etc.). A frequent error is coding Bypass when the surgeon actually performed Repair or Dilation of an existing passage rather than constructing an alternate route; another is missing the correct device value when a stent or conduit segment is left in place.

Commonly Confused With

DilationBypass is easily confused with Dilation, which merely widens an existing narrowed segment rather than creating a new route, and with Drainage, which removes fluid without altering the pathway.
TransferIt is also distinct from Transfer/Replacement procedures using bowel segments for reconstruction rather than diversion; the distinguishing question is always whether contents now travel through a route that did not exist before.