Bronchoscopy
is a technique of visualizing the inside of the airways for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. An instrument (bronchoscope) is inserted into the airways, usually through the nose or mouth, or occasionally through a tracheostomy. This allows the practitioner to examine the patient's airways for abnormalities such as foreign bodies, bleeding, tumors, or inflammation. Specimens may be taken from inside the lungs. The construction of bronchoscopes ranges from rigid metal tubes with attached lighting devices to flexible optical fiber instruments with realtime video equipment.
Bronchoscopy
no
The CPT code 31641 can be used for flexible bronchoscopy that uses laser therapy. This code can also be used for rigid bronchoscopy.
Patients not breathing adequately on their own due to severe respiratory failure may require mechanical ventilation prior to bronchoscopy. It may not be appropriate to perform bronchoscopy on patients with an unstable heart.
Bronchoscopy
31622
Colonoscopy, bronchoscopy,
31635
31623
24 ****** hours
No. a bronchoscopy is viewing the bronchi. Additional procedures may be required after the xray is viewed, however you can bill the additional procedure codes with a modifier is this is necessary.
Alternative procedures to bronchoscopy include imaging studies such as CT scans or MRIs to visualize the airways, sputum cytology to examine cells in the mucus, and pulmonary function tests to assess lung function. In certain cases, a needle biopsy or a thoracentesis may be performed to obtain tissue or fluid samples for analysis without the need for a bronchoscopy.