CPT 37617 Ligation of Abdominal Artery Reimbursement | OpenPayer

Summary & Overview

CPT 37617: Ligation of Ruptured Abdominal Artery

CPT code 37617 represents the surgical ligation of a ruptured abdominal artery performed for traumatic injury. Nationally, this code captures emergent operative management of intra-abdominal arterial hemorrhage, a critical procedure in trauma and acute surgical care. Accurate coding for this service affects hospital billing, trauma registry capture, and payment for high-acuity vascular control.

Key payers covered in typical analyses include Aetna, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Cigna Health, UnitedHealthcare, and Medicare. Readers will find national-level context on clinical use and coding purpose, an overview of typical sites of service and service type, and summary information useful for billing and administrative teams. The publication outlines benchmarks where available, relevant policy and coverage considerations, and clinical context to help coding and revenue teams classify and document emergent abdominal arterial ligation appropriately.

The content focuses on the code definition, typical clinical and service settings, and what organizations commonly review when processing claims for traumatic vascular ligation. Data not available in the input is identified explicitly where applicable.

AetnaBlue Cross Blue ShieldCigna HealthUnitedHealthcareMedicare37617CPTabdominal vascular surgerytrauma surgeryemergency surgeryoperative hemostasishospital inpatientoperating room

Billing Code Overview

CPT code 37617 describes the surgical ligation (closure, tying off, or clamping) of a ruptured artery in the abdomen performed for injury or trauma. This procedure addresses active arterial bleeding within the abdominal cavity and is primarily an acute surgical hemostasis intervention.

Service type: Emergency surgical vascular control for traumatic abdominal arterial injury
Typical site of service: Hospital operating room or trauma center (inpatient or emergent operating suite)

Clinical & Coding Specifications

Clinical Context

A 34-year-old male presents to the emergency department after a blunt abdominal trauma from a motor vehicle collision. He is hemodynamically unstable with signs of ongoing intra-abdominal hemorrhage and a FAST exam positive for free fluid. CT angiography suggests active contrast extravasation from a mesenteric branch of the abdominal aorta region. The trauma surgery team takes the patient emergently to the operating room for exploratory laparotomy. During the procedure, a ruptured abdominal artery is identified as the source of hemorrhage; the surgeon controls bleeding by direct ligation of the injured vessel (CPT 37617). Hemostasis is confirmed, the abdominal cavity is irrigated, and the wound is managed per intraoperative findings. Postoperative care occurs in a surgical intensive care unit with serial abdominal examinations and hemoglobin monitoring. Typical site of service: Hospital operating room (emergent trauma surgery). Service type: Emergency operative vascular control of a ruptured abdominal artery due to injury or trauma.

Coding Specifications

Modifier	Description	When to Use
`22`	Increased procedural services	When work required is substantially greater than typical (eg, extensive hemorrhage control beyond routine).

CPT 37616: Ligation of Ruptured Chest Artery (Trauma)

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

CPT 37605: Ligation of Internal or Common Carotid Artery

CPT-37765-AMBULATORY-MICROPHLEBECTOMY-VARICOSE-VEIN-EXCISION

CPT 37765: Ambulatory Microphlebectomy for Varicose Veins

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

CPT 37619: Inferior Vena Cava Ligation to Narrow Vessel Diameter

CPT-37606-CAROTID-ARTERY-LIGATION-NECK

CPT 37606: Ligation of Internal or Common Carotid Artery

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

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

CPT-37609-TEMPORAL-ARTERY-LIGATION-ANEURYSM-TREATMENT

CPT 37609: Temporal Artery Ligation for Aneurysm Treatment

CPT-37722-GREAT-SAPHENOUS-VEIN-STRIPPING-VARICOSE-VEINS

CPT 37722: Great Saphenous Vein Stripping for Varicose Veins

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

CPT 37618: Ligation of Ruptured Limb Artery

CPT-37660-OPEN-ABDOMINAL-LIGATION-COMMON-ILIAC-VEIN

CPT 37660: Open Abdominal Ligation of Common Iliac Vein

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Taxonomy Code	Specialty	Notes
208000000X	General Surgery	Trauma and emergency abdominal explorations commonly performed by general surgeons.
208100000X	Vascular Surgery	Vascular surgeons perform complex arterial repairs or ligations in the abdomen.
208600000X	Surgery - Critical Care	Surgeons with critical care training often manage emergent operative trauma cases.
207L00000X	Emergency Medicine	Emergency physicians initiate resuscitation and coordinate transfer to operative care.

Related Diagnoses

ICD-10 Code	Description	Clinical Relevance
`S36.031A`	Laceration of abdominal aorta, initial encounter	Direct traumatic injury to an abdominal major artery requiring urgent ligation.
`S36.039A`	Other injury of abdominal aorta, initial encounter	Includes other traumatic aortic injuries presenting with hemorrhage managed by operative control.
`S35.891A`	Injury of other specified intra-abdominal artery, initial encounter	Represents mesenteric or other intra-abdominal arterial injury leading to bleeding that may be ligated.
`S36.811A`	Laceration of other intra-abdominal organ, initial encounter	Associated intra-abdominal organ injury with vascular involvement necessitating ligation during exploration.
`T79.A21A`	Traumatic compartment syndrome of abdomen, initial encounter	May be associated with severe abdominal trauma and requires surgical intervention including vascular control.

Related CPT Codes

CPT Code	Description	Relationship to This Procedure
`37220`	Revascularization, endovascular, open or percutaneous procedures on visceral arteries; transluminal balloon angioplasty, atherectomy, and/or stent placement	May be used as adjunct or alternative when endovascular control of abdominal arterial bleeding is performed instead of open ligation.
`35010`	Ligation, internal iliac artery, unilateral or bilateral (separate procedure)	Related when pelvic arterial ligation is required for hemorrhage control in adjacent anatomic territories.
`32551`	Tube thoracostomy, includes water seal (eg, for concurrent thoracic injury)	Frequently performed in multisystem trauma patients when chest injuries are present during same hospitalization.
`49560`	Repair of traumatic abdominal wall hernia or wound debridement (if required)	Performed when concomitant abdominal wall injury or contaminated wounds require debridement or repair during the same operative session.
`99291`	Critical care, evaluation and management of the critically ill or critically injured patient; first 30-74 minutes	Postoperative critical care management in the ICU after emergent hemorrhage control.

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