ICD-10-PCS Billable Code

02LQ3CZ

Occlusion Pulmonary Artery, Right to No Qualifier with Extraluminal Device, Percutaneous Approach

Procedural Specifications

Clinical Axis Detail Definition
Section0 Medical and Surgical
Body System2 Heart and Great Vessels
OperationL Occlusion
Body PartQ Pulmonary Artery, Right
Approach3 Percutaneous
DeviceC Extraluminal Device
QualifierZ No Qualifier

Operation Definition

Completely closing an orifice or the lumen of a tubular body part

Procedure Overview

Occlusion procedures on the heart and great vessels close off a vessel, chamber opening, or shunt so that blood can no longer pass through it. Surgeons use this approach to seal off a structure that is causing harm rather than to serve a useful purpose, such as an aneurysm, a patent foramen ovale, an atrial appendage prone to clot formation, or an abnormal connection between chambers. The closure can be done with a clip, plug, coil, suture, or occluder device delivered either through open surgery or a catheter threaded from a vessel in the leg or arm.

Patients encounter this family of procedures most often for stroke-prevention strategies, such as left atrial appendage closure in people with atrial fibrillation who cannot tolerate long-term blood thinners, or for closing a hole between heart chambers that never sealed after birth. The goal is always the same: eliminate flow through a specific pathway while leaving the surrounding anatomy otherwise intact.

Anatomy & Axis Detail

Pulmonary Artery, Right

The right pulmonary artery carries deoxygenated blood from the pulmonary trunk to the right lung, and complete occlusion of this vessel is typically performed in staged surgical palliation of complex congenital heart disease, such as when pulmonary blood flow needs to be redirected through a shunt or when a diseased or non-functional lung segment must be excluded from perfusion. The procedure may be done surgically with ligation or banding, or via catheter-delivered plugs and coils in an endovascular approach. Because the right and left pulmonary arteries are distinct paired structures with independent surgical significance, occlusion of the right vessel is coded separately from the left, and operative notes should specify laterality clearly given the differing clinical contexts in which each branch is closed.

Approach: Percutaneous

Percutaneous describes entry by needle or instrument puncture through the skin or mucous membrane to reach the site of the procedure, without cutting the tissue open or using a visualizing scope. It differs from Open in that the site itself is never exposed, and from Percutaneous Endoscopic in that no endoscope is used to see internal structures. Common examples include needle biopsies and injections.

Device: Extraluminal Device

Extraluminal Device describes a device positioned on the outside surface of a tubular or hollow body part rather than within its lumen, such as a vascular banding or external stabilization device. It is the structural counterpart to Intraluminal Device, distinguished by its external placement relative to the vessel or duct wall rather than sitting inside the passageway itself.

Coding & Documentation

Coders assign Occlusion when the operative note describes a structure being completely closed off, not narrowed or partially blocked, which would instead point to Restriction. The documentation needs to specify the device used (occluder, clip, coil) and the approach, since percutaneous catheter-based closures carry a different device and approach value than an open surgical ligation of a vessel. A frequent error is confusing Occlusion with Excision or Destruction when a structure like an atrial appendage is removed or ablated rather than sealed shut - if tissue is taken out, Excision applies instead. Another common mix-up is failing to distinguish a diagnostic occlusion test from a therapeutic one; only the therapeutic closure is coded here.

Commonly Confused With

RestrictionRestriction is the closest neighbor and is easily confused with Occlusion; the distinction is whether the lumen is completely closed (Occlusion) or only partially narrowed (Restriction), such as banding a vessel to reduce but not stop flow.
ExcisionLigation-style procedures on an atrial appendage can also be coded as Excision if the appendage is cut off and removed rather than closed in place.
RepairRepair should not be used for a therapeutic closure of an abnormal opening like a septal defect when a device or sutures accomplish complete closure - that scenario is Occlusion, whereas Repair is reserved for closures not better described by a more specific root operation.