0TS70ZZ
Reposition Ureter, Left to No Qualifier with No Device, Open Approach
Procedural Specifications
| Clinical Axis | Detail Definition |
|---|---|
| Section | 0 Medical and Surgical |
| Body System | T Urinary System |
| Operation | S Reposition |
| Body Part | 7 Ureter, Left |
| Approach | 0 Open |
| Device | Z No Device |
| Qualifier | Z No Qualifier |
Operation Definition
Moving to its normal location, or other suitable location, all or a portion of a body part
Procedure Overview
Reposition procedures move a urinary structure to its normal location or to another suitable position when it has become displaced or malformed. A well-known example is correcting a horseshoe kidney or a kidney that has dropped from its normal position, and pyeloplasty performed to relocate and reshape the ureteropelvic junction so urine can drain properly.
These procedures address problems that are fundamentally about location or orientation rather than tissue damage - a kidney sitting too low, a ureter that takes an abnormal course, or a congenital anomaly discovered in childhood or found incidentally in an adult. Surgeons free the structure from surrounding attachments and fix it in its corrected position, sometimes with permanent sutures or mesh.
Because the underlying tissue is retained and simply relocated, Reposition differs from procedures that remove, replace, or reinforce urinary tissue.
Anatomy & Axis Detail
Ureter, Left
The left ureter conveys urine from the left kidney's pelvis to the bladder, running along the psoas muscle and crossing the iliac vessels before entering the pelvis. Reposition procedures on this structure address problems like ureteral displacement from retroperitoneal fibrosis, transposition around an obstructing vessel or mass, or ureteroneocystostomy, where the ureter is detached from its original bladder insertion and reimplanted at a new site to relieve reflux or correct a congenital anomaly. Left-sided ureteral surgery must account for the sigmoid colon and its mesentery, which can overlie the ureter and influence the surgical approach. As with the right ureter, the key documentation question is whether any ureteral tissue was removed during the relocation, since excision performed alongside repositioning would be captured under a separate root operation.
Approach: Open
Open approach means the surgeon cuts through skin, mucous membrane, or other tissue layers to physically expose the target site to view before performing the procedure. It gives direct visualization and hands-on access, distinguishing it from Percutaneous approaches where instruments pass through a small puncture without exposing the site. Open is typical for procedures needing wide access, such as most laparotomies.
Coding & Documentation
The operative note needs to describe the structure being moved and confirm that the objective was relocation rather than removal or reconstruction with foreign material. This includes procedures for undescended or ectopic kidneys, correction of ureteral malposition, and pyeloplasty when it is performed primarily to reposition the renal pelvis and ureter rather than to excise a stricture.
A common error is coding pyeloplasty as Repair when the surgeon's actual technique involved detaching and relocating the ureteropelvic segment, which fits Reposition more precisely. Coders should also watch for procedures that combine repositioning with excision of a narrowed segment, since both root operations may need to be captured depending on what was documented.