ICD-10-PCS Billable Code

0FT44ZG

Resection Gallbladder to Hand-Assisted with No Device, Percutaneous Endoscopic Approach

Procedural Specifications

Clinical Axis Detail Definition
Section0 Medical and Surgical
Body SystemF Hepatobiliary System and Pancreas
OperationT Resection
Body Part4 Gallbladder
Approach4 Percutaneous Endoscopic
DeviceZ No Device
QualifierG Hand-Assisted

Operation Definition

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

Procedure Overview

Resection covers the complete removal of a hepatobiliary or pancreatic organ or anatomically distinct portion, without replacing it with a graft or device. The most familiar example is cholecystectomy, the complete removal of the gallbladder, typically performed for symptomatic gallstones, chronic inflammation, or gallbladder cancer. Other examples include total pancreatectomy and complete removal of an anatomically whole lobe of the liver when disease affects the entire segment.

These procedures are chosen when disease, such as cancer, severe infection, or irreversible organ damage, involves an entire anatomically distinct body part and leaving any of it behind would not resolve the underlying problem. Because the liver and pancreas perform essential metabolic and digestive functions, surgeons carefully weigh how much can be safely removed before turning to resection of a whole part rather than a partial excision.

Anatomy & Axis Detail

Gallbladder

The gallbladder is a pear-shaped reservoir tucked against the liver's inferior surface that concentrates and stores bile delivered through the cystic duct, contracting in response to cholecystokinin to release bile into the duodenum during digestion. It is removed, almost always by cholecystectomy, when gallstones cause biliary colic, acute or chronic cholecystitis, biliary pancreatitis, or when polyps or wall thickening raise suspicion for malignancy. Because the organ has a discrete peritoneal attachment and a single named duct connecting it to the biliary tree, complete removal is typically achievable laparoscopically or open, with the cystic duct and cystic artery ligated separately at the porta hepatis. Coding this as Resection reflects that the entire organ is taken, as distinguished from decompressive procedures like drainage that leave the gallbladder intact.

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: Hand-Assisted

This qualifier indicates that a laparoscopic or endoscopic procedure was performed with the surgeon's hand inserted through a separate incision to provide tactile feedback and manual assistance alongside the instruments. It distinguishes hand-assisted minimally invasive technique from standard laparoscopic approaches performed with instruments alone.

Coding & Documentation

For Resection to apply, the documentation must show that an entire anatomically distinct body part, such as the whole gallbladder, an entire hepatic lobe, or the whole pancreas, was removed, not just a margin or lesion. When only a portion of an organ is taken, such as a wedge of liver tissue or the pancreatic tail alone, the case should instead be coded as an excision, a distinction that trips up coders regularly. Pathology and operative reports should be cross-referenced to confirm the full extent of what was removed and whether any organ tissue remained in the patient.

Commonly Confused With

ExcisionResection is most often confused with Excision, and the dividing line is completeness: Excision removes only a portion of a body part while Resection removes it entirely.
ReplacementIt's also distinct from Replacement, since Resection alone doesn't involve substituting a device or graft for the tissue removed.