02TN3ZZ
Resection Pericardium to No Qualifier with No Device, Percutaneous Approach
Procedural Specifications
| Clinical Axis | Detail Definition |
|---|---|
| Section | 0 Medical and Surgical |
| Body System | 2 Heart and Great Vessels |
| Operation | T Resection |
| Body Part | N Pericardium |
| Approach | 3 Percutaneous |
| Device | Z No Device |
| Qualifier | Z No Qualifier |
Operation Definition
Cutting out or off, without replacement, all of a body part
Procedure Overview
Resection in the heart and great vessels describes cutting out an entire body part with nothing put in its place. In this body system that most often means removing a defined anatomic segment, such as an atrial appendage, or excising an entire structure that has become diseased or is no longer needed.
This differs from trimming away a portion of tissue; Resection applies to a complete structure being taken out, not a partial removal. Reasons for performing it range from eliminating a source of dangerous blood clots, as with an atrial appendage tied to stroke risk in atrial fibrillation, to removing a segment that is obstructing normal circulation or that was created for an earlier stage of treatment and is no longer required.
Because the heart and great vessels have a limited number of discrete, whole body parts recognized in this classification, true Resection procedures here are less common than in other body systems where whole organs are removed.
Anatomy & Axis Detail
Pericardium
The pericardium is the fibrous and serous sac enveloping the heart, providing lubrication for cardiac motion and a barrier against infection spread from adjacent structures, and its resection, or pericardiectomy, involves removing all or a substantial portion of this sac. This procedure is performed for constrictive pericarditis, where a thickened, calcified, or fibrotic pericardium restricts diastolic filling, or for recurrent pericardial effusion and pericardial malignancy where the diseased sac itself must be eliminated rather than simply drained. Because the pericardium is adherent to the great vessels and diaphragm in disease states, extensive resection can be technically demanding and carries risk of injury to the phrenic nerve, which courses along its lateral surface. Coding as resection versus a lesser excision depends on whether the entire pericardial sac, rather than a localized segment, is removed.
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.
Coding & Documentation
Coders should assign Resection here only when the documentation confirms an entire body part, as defined in the body part table, was removed and nothing was left in that location. If any portion of the structure remains, the correct root operation is usually Excision instead, so the note needs to be explicit about complete removal.
A frequent error is defaulting to Resection whenever a heart structure is cut out, without checking whether the body part is defined as a discrete whole entity in this body system. Left atrial appendage occlusion or excision procedures are a common source of this confusion, since some techniques resect the appendage while others merely close it off, which is a different root operation entirely.