ICD-10-PCS Billable Code

0QB94ZX

Excision Femoral Shaft, Left to Diagnostic with No Device, Percutaneous Endoscopic Approach

Procedural Specifications

Clinical Axis Detail Definition
Section0 Medical and Surgical
Body SystemQ Lower Bones
OperationB Excision
Body Part9 Femoral Shaft, Left
Approach4 Percutaneous Endoscopic
DeviceZ No Device
QualifierX Diagnostic

Operation Definition

Cutting out or off, without replacement, a portion of a body part

Procedure Overview

Excision procedures on the lower bones remove a portion of a bone in the pelvis, hip, leg, ankle, or foot without replacing what's taken out. Surgeons perform these when a piece of bone needs to come out but the rest of the bone can stay in place - trimming a bone spur pressing on a nerve, taking a wedge sample from a suspicious lesion to send for biopsy, or shaving down a prominent area that's causing pain or skin breakdown.

Because only part of the bone is involved, the surrounding structure typically remains functional. Recovery often centers on protecting the area while it heals rather than rebuilding lost function, though larger excisions near a joint may need a period of limited weight-bearing.

Anatomy & Axis Detail

Femoral Shaft, Left

The left femoral shaft is the straight, cylindrical diaphyseal segment of the thighbone lying between the hip and knee, built of thick cortical bone to withstand axial loading during standing and gait. Excision of a portion of this bone is typically undertaken to remove infected or dead cortex in osteomyelitis, sample tissue from a bone lesion, or excise a benign growth such as an osteochondroma arising from the shaft. Because removing shaft cortex can compromise the femur's load-bearing capacity, surgeons weigh the size and location of the excised segment carefully and may plan for stabilization afterward. The procedure is generally performed through a lateral surgical approach, and documentation should clarify whether the excision was limited to cortical bone or extended into the medullary cavity.

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: Diagnostic

Applied chiefly to Excision, this qualifier marks that tissue was removed specifically for diagnostic purposes, i.e., a biopsy intended for pathologic evaluation rather than to treat disease. It distinguishes biopsy-type excisions from therapeutic excisions of the same body part, which are coded without this qualifier even though the physical technique may be identical.

Coding & Documentation

Assign an excision code when the operative note describes cutting out a discrete portion of a lower bone - an exostosis, an osteophyte, a bone biopsy specimen, or margins around a tumor - without inserting a device or graft to replace the missing bone. The note should specify the bone and the general region (e.g., femoral neck, calcaneus) since Lower Bones is subdivided by specific bone. A common assignment error is coding excision when the surgeon actually removed the entire bone or a full bony process, which is resection; another is missing that a biopsy taken via excisional technique still codes as excision even though it's diagnostic rather than therapeutic.

Commonly Confused With

ExtirpationExcision is frequently confused with Extirpation, which applies to abnormal solid material like sequestered bone fragments or debris rather than a cut portion of otherwise viable bone.
ResectionIt's also confused with Resection, used when an entire bone or bony process is taken rather than just a part of it, and with Detachment, which applies specifically to amputation-type removal of a limb portion.