CPT 37616 Thoracic Artery Ligation Reimbursement | OpenPayer

Summary & Overview

CPT 37616: Ligation of Ruptured Chest Artery (Trauma)

CPT code 37616 denotes the surgical ligation of a ruptured chest artery due to injury or trauma, an urgent vascular procedure performed to control life-threatening thoracic hemorrhage. Nationally, this code is important for trauma centers, acute care hospitals, and surgical teams because it captures emergency operative management of thoracic arterial bleeding and factors heavily into trauma case mix, hospital resource utilization, and emergent surgical quality metrics. Key payers addressed include Aetna, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Cigna Health, UnitedHealthcare, and Medicare. Readers will find a concise clinical and billing overview of the procedure, typical settings where the service is delivered, and what to expect in payer coverage contexts. The publication outlines benchmark considerations, coding context, and policy-relevant issues that affect reimbursement and documentation for emergency vascular procedures. The content highlights clinical context for billing — including urgency, operative setting, and the procedural objective of hemorrhage control — and summarizes how major payers and Medicare typically engage with emergent operative vascular codes. Data not available in the input is clearly noted where applicable.

AetnaBlue Cross Blue ShieldCigna HealthUnitedHealthcareMedicare37616CPTthoracic surgerytraumavascular surgeryemergency surgeryoperative procedurehemorrhage control

Billing Code Overview

CPT code 37616 describes the surgical ligation (closure, clipping, or tying off) of a ruptured artery of the chest resulting from injury or trauma. This procedure is an emergency vascular surgical intervention to control hemorrhage originating from a thoracic arterial source.

Service Type: Surgical — emergency vascular repair/ligation

Typical Site of Service: Operative suite or trauma operating room, commonly performed in hospital inpatient or emergency surgical settings when immediate control of chest arterial bleeding is required.

Clinical & Coding Specifications

Clinical Context

A Thirty-four-year-old male is brought to the emergency department after a motor vehicle collision with penetrating chest trauma. He is hemodynamically unstable with external bleeding from the anterior left chest and expanding hematoma. Chest radiograph and focused assessment with sonography for trauma (FAST) suggest intrathoracic hemorrhage. The cardiothoracic or trauma surgeon performs an immediate operative exploration in the operating room or trauma bay, locates a ruptured intercostal or internal mammary artery within the chest wall, and achieves hemostasis by ligation (clipping or tying off) of the injured vessel. The clinical workflow includes: initial resuscitation and airway stabilization, rapid imaging when feasible, notification of the trauma/vascular surgery team, transfer to the operating room or designated trauma procedure area, direct vascular control and ligation of the ruptured chest artery, adjunctive measures (chest tube placement if hemothorax present), intraoperative hemostasis confirmation, postoperative monitoring in the intensive care unit, and documentation of the artery ligated, technique used (clip, tie, or suture ligation), laterality, and any concurrent procedures.

Coding Specifications

Modifier	Description	When to Use
`11`	Subsequent procedure or service by the same physician	Use when the service is billed by the same provider on a subsequent visit related to the global period.

CPT 37617: Ligation of Ruptured Abdominal Artery

CPT-37607-ARTERIOVENOUS-FISTULA-LIGATION

CPT 37607: Ligation of Artificial Arteriovenous Fistula

CPT-37618-LIGATION-RUPTURED-LIMB-ARTERY-TRAUMA

CPT 37618: Ligation of Ruptured Limb Artery

CPT-37766-PHLEBECTOMY-VARICOSE-VEIN-EXCISION-20-PLUS-INCISIONS

CPT 37766: Excision of Varicose Veins (20+ Small Incisions)

CPT-37785-VARICOSE-VEIN-CLUSTER-EXCISION

CPT 37785: Excision of Cluster of Varicose Veins

CPT-37619-INFERIOR-VENA-CAVA-LIGATION-VENOUS-SURGICAL-PROCEDURE

CPT 37619: Inferior Vena Cava Ligation to Narrow Vessel Diameter

CPT-37605-CAROTID-ARTERY-LIGATION-OPEN-VASCULAR-SURGERY

CPT 37605: Ligation of Internal or Common Carotid Artery

CPT-37565-INTERNAL-JUGULAR-VEIN-LIGATION-NECK-INCISION

CPT 37565: Internal Jugular Vein Ligation for Venous Hum Tinnitus

CPT-37615-NECK-ARTERY-LIGATION-TRAUMA

CPT 37615: Ligation of Ruptured Neck Artery Due to Trauma

CPT-37780-SHORT-SAPHENOUS-VEIN-EXCISION-SAPHENOPOPLITEAL-JUNCTION

CPT 37780: Short (Small) Saphenous Vein Excision at Saphenopopliteal Junction

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Taxonomy Code	Specialty	Notes
2080S0004X	Thoracic Surgery	Primary specialty for operative thoracic vascular control and chest wall vessel ligation.
2080P0206X	Trauma Surgery	Frequently performs emergent chest vessel ligation in traumatic injury.
207R00000X	Vascular Surgery	Manages arterial injuries requiring ligation or vascular repair in the chest.
207K00000X	General Surgery	Performs emergent chest explorations and vessel ligation in trauma settings.

Related Diagnoses

ICD-10 Code	Description	Clinical Relevance
`S27.012A`	Traumatic rupture of internal mammary artery, initial encounter	Directly relevant for ligation of a ruptured chest artery such as the internal mammary artery.
`S27.111A`	Traumatic laceration of left intercostal artery, initial encounter	Intercostal artery injury commonly causes intrathoracic hemorrhage requiring ligation.
`S27.112A`	Traumatic laceration of right intercostal artery, initial encounter	As above for the contralateral side.
`S27.8XXA`	Other specified injuries of thorax, initial encounter	Includes other thoracic vascular injuries where operative ligation may be required.
`S27.9XXA`	Unspecified injury of thorax, initial encounter	Used when a thoracic vascular injury is present but not further specified at time of documentation.

Related CPT Codes

CPT Code	Description	Relationship to This Procedure
`32551`	Tube thoracostomy, includes water-seal drainage; with drainage of empyema if performed	Often performed before or after chest artery ligation to evacuate hemothorax and re-expand lung.
`39400`	Thoracotomy, exploration of chest, with or without removal of foreign body (separate procedure)	May be performed to gain access to the thoracic cavity to identify and control hemorrhage from a ruptured artery.
`35860`	Ligation, other thoracic vessel	Alternative or additional code for ligation of specific thoracic vessels when anatomically distinct from intercostal or internal mammary arteries.
`36215`	Selective catheter placement, vascular angiography, thoracic vessels; initial vessel	May be performed pre- or postoperatively for diagnostic angiography or embolization in stable patients as adjunct to surgical ligation.
`36556`	Insertion of non-tunneled centrally inserted central venous catheter, age 5 years or older	Common perioperative vascular access during resuscitation and operative management of traumatic chest hemorrhage.

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