Lumbar fusion is the surgical joining of two vertebrae in the lumbar spine, or lower back. Your vertebrae are the bones that make up your spine (backbone). Lumbar fusion permanently stops movement between two vertebrae. It is a treatment for a variety of diseases and conditions of your spine.
Lumbar Spine. The lumbar spine is the lower back that begins below the last thoracic vertebra (T12) and ends at the top of the sacral spine, or sacrum (S1). Most people have 5 lumbar levels (L1-L5), although it is not unusual to have 6. Each lumbar spinal level is numbered from top to bottom—L1 through L5, or L6.
Treatment
Spinal fusion, also called spondylodesis or spondylosyndesis, is a neurosurgical or orthopedic surgical technique that joins two or more vertebrae. This procedure can be performed at any level in the spine (cervical, thoracic, or lumbar) and prevents any movement between the fused vertebrae.
Fusion of spine, site unspecified M43. 20 is a billable/specific ICD-10-CM code that can be used to indicate a diagnosis for reimbursement purposes. The 2022 edition of ICD-10-CM M43. 20 became effective on October 1, 2021.
Spinal fusion permanently connects two or more vertebrae in your spine to improve stability, correct a deformity or reduce pain. Your doctor may recommend spinal fusion to treat: Deformities of the spine. Spinal fusion can help correct spinal deformities, such as a sideways curvature of the spine (scoliosis).
Lumbar spinal fusion is surgery to join, or fuse, two or more vertebrae in the low back. The surgery is also called arthrodesis. Spinal fusion is major surgery, usually lasting several hours.
A laminectomy will include a fusion component if a patient has experienced slippage of the vertebrae or has a curvature of the spine. The surgeon will fuse the affected vertebrae using a bone graft.
Anterior/posterior spinal fusion - the procedure is done from the front and the back. Transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (TLIF) - Similar to the PLIF, this procedure is also done from the back of the spine. Extreme Lateral Interbody Fusion (XLIF) - an interbody fusion in which the approach is from the side.
L4-5 & L5-S1 Spinal Fusion Surgery Using specially designed instruments, the disc is incised and removed. The endplates of the vertebrae are exposed. A bone graft is then placed between the vertebrae. This bone graft then usually heals, forming a solid bridge of bone connecting the levels.
Arthrodesis, also referred to as a joint fusion, the uniting of two bones at a joint, is typically completed through surgery. In simple terms, the orthopedic surgeon manually straightens out the damaged joint, removes the cartilage, and then stabilizes the bone so that they heal together.
Arthrodesis is a surgical procedure that fuses the bones in a joint so they don't move. This is common for people who have arthritis — a condition where moving joints can be painful. Arthrodesis in the wrist stabilizes the joint. It fuses the long bone in your forearm to the smaller bones in your wrist.
Conclusion Arthrodesis provides pain relief and satisfactory results but alters the biomechanics of gait. Like arthrodesis, arthroplasty improves pain significantly, being a more physiological alternative to preserve the biomechanics of the foot.
Multilevel spinal fusion refers to fusion of more than one spinal disc level (e.g. L3-L4 and L4-L5 fusions). When a multilevel spinal fusion is performed, it is almost always on contiguous spinal levels. The most common levels included in a multilevel spinal fusion are L4-5 and L5-S1.
Posterior lumbar decompression and fusion (PLDF) is a surgical procedure that aims to relieve pain and pressure on the spinal cord and the nerves in the lower back. The lower back is made up of the lumbar spine, where the spine curves inward toward the abdomen.
Postlaminectomy syndrome, not elsewhere classified M96. 1 is a billable/specific ICD-10-CM code that can be used to indicate a diagnosis for reimbursement purposes. The 2022 edition of ICD-10-CM M96. 1 became effective on October 1, 2021.
Body Part: The body part character reflects the level of the vertebrae (cervical, thoracic, lumbar and/or sacral) and the number of vertebral joints fused. The intervertebral joint is the space that is located between any two adjacent vertebrae. One factor in determining the number of fusion codes to assign is how many levels were fused.
Coding professionals must be able to distinguish between what procedures are integral to a spinal fusion and are not assigned additional codes, versus those not considered to be integral and are assigned separate codes. The following are examples of how to make that distinction.