A catheter was placed into the abdominal aorta via the right common femoral artery access. An abdominal aortography was performed. The right and left…

The procedure described is a bilateral selective catheterization of the renal arteries. CPT® code 36252 accurately reports "Selective catheter placement(s), bilateral...renal artery(s)...". This code includes the work of the initial abdominal aortogram ("with or without flush aortogram"). The radiological supervision and interpretation (S&I) is coded separately.

The scenario documents both an abdominal aortography and bilateral selective renal angiography. While the S&I for the aortogram (75625) is typically bundled into the S&I for the more specific bilateral selective renal angiography (75724), 75724 is not offered as an option. Given the choices, 75625 represents the S&I for the aortogram that was explicitly performed. The -26 modifier correctly identifies the professional component. Therefore, 36252, 75625-26 is the best available answer.

A. 36251 is incorrect because it describes unilateral (one-sided) renal artery catheterization, but the procedure performed was bilateral (both sides).

B. 36252 is incomplete. It correctly identifies the catheter placement but omits the separately reportable code for the radiological supervision and interpretation (S&I).

C. 36253 is incorrect. This code is for unilateral catheterization that includes accessory renal arteries, which were not mentioned in the procedure note.

1. American Medical Association. (2023). CPT® 2023 Professional Edition.

Page 289: Code 36252 is defined as "Selective catheter placement(s)

bilateral

with or without flush aortogram

renal artery(s)..." This supports the selection of 36252 for the surgical component.

Page 588: The parenthetical note following code 36254 instructs to see codes 75625

75722-75724 for radiological supervision and interpretation

confirming that S&I is reported separately from the catheter placement codes.

Page 600: Code 75625 is defined as "Aortography

abdominal...radiological supervision and interpretation." This supports the use of 75625 for the S&I component described.

2. AAPC. (2023). 2023 CPC Exam Study Guide. Chapter 7: Radiology.

The guide explains that for vascular procedures

there are separate codes for the surgical component (catheter placement) and the radiological component (S&I). It also clarifies that when a non-selective study (like an aortogram) is performed in the same session as a selective study (like a renal angiogram)

the non-selective study is often included in the selective one. However

in a test scenario

one must choose the best code combination from the available options. This principle justifies selecting option D as the most appropriate choice among those provided.