Radiology Question for the Week of December 20, 2021

Question:

Please advise if CPT® code 78452 should be coded with 78830. The technique states: A Lexiscan stress protocol was used. 12 mCi of Tc-99m Tetrofosmin was administered intravenously at rest and 43.2 mCi was administered intravenously at stress. Gated SPECT images were obtained and processed. CT images were obtained through the heart. LIMITATIONS: No prone images were obtained. The low-dose CT acquisition was performed only for attenuation correction/activity localization. There is no intravenous contrast, further limiting the CT component of the study.

Answer:

No, you would just code 78452. 78452 already includes SPECT, so if you also code 78830 you are coding SPECT twice. In addition, your doctor said he did the CT for attenuation correction (“The low-dose CT acquisition was performed only for attenuation correction/activity localization”), and the code description for 78452 specifically includes attenuation correction when performed.

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