Summary & Overview
CPT 61700: Intracranial Aneurysm Repair, Internal Carotid Circulation
Headline: CPT code 61700: Open intracranial repair for simple internal carotid circulation aneurysm
Lead: CPT code 61700 denotes an intracranial surgical procedure to repair a simple aneurysm in the internal carotid circulation, typically performed by neurosurgeons in hospital operating rooms to address aneurysms that have caused or risk causing subarachnoid hemorrhage.
CPT code 61700 represents open intracranial aneurysm repair for simple aneurysms located in the internal carotid circulation. The code captures a high-acuity neurosurgical intervention with implications for inpatient hospital resource use, specialized surgical teams, and perioperative critical care. Nationally, this service is clinically significant because it addresses life-threatening cerebrovascular events and influences hospital surgical volumes, resource allocation, and payer coverage decisions.
Key payers covered in this analysis include Aetna, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Cigna Health, UnitedHealthcare, and Medicare. Readers will find a concise overview of typical sites of service and clinical context, along with benchmarking and policy-relevant considerations where available. The publication summarizes typical billing practices, common modifier usage (listed separately), and the clinical scenarios that commonly generate use of CPT code 61700.
What readers will learn: an executive synthesis of the clinical purpose of the code, the care settings where it is performed, the principal payers involved, and what sections of the report address benchmarks, payment policy updates, and clinical context for neurosurgical intracranial aneurysm repair.
Billing Code Overview
CPT code 61700 describes a neurosurgical procedure in which the provider treats a simple intracranial aneurysm using intracranial surgical techniques to repair an abnormal dilation or widening of a blood vessel in the internal carotid circulation. The service is directed at repairing an aneurysm that has caused a subarachnoid hemorrhage or is at risk of rupture.
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Service type: Intracranial aneurysm repair using open intracranial surgical techniques
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Typical site of service: Inpatient or outpatient hospital settings with neurosurgical operating room capability; care is delivered by neurosurgeons in a hospital operating room environment
Clinical & Coding Specifications
Clinical Context
A 56-year-old female presents to the emergency department with sudden severe headache, vomiting, photophobia, and neck stiffness. CT scan of the head demonstrates subarachnoid hemorrhage, and CT angiography identifies a 6 mm saccular aneurysm of the intracranial segment of the internal carotid artery. Neurosurgery evaluates the patient and recommends open intracranial surgical repair due to aneurysm morphology and vascular anatomy not amenable to endovascular coiling. The patient is consented for intracranial aneurysm repair. The clinical workflow includes preoperative assessment in the neurovascular clinic or ED, obtaining informed consent, preoperative labs and imaging (CT/CTA, cerebral angiography as needed), anesthesia evaluation, intraoperative neurosurgical procedure to clip or otherwise repair the aneurysm using intracranial surgical techniques, immediate postoperative neurocritical care for monitoring and management of vasospasm risk, and outpatient follow-up for imaging surveillance and rehabilitation as indicated. Billing uses 61700 for the open intracranial surgical treatment of a simple aneurysm in the internal carotid circulation performed intraoperatively under general anesthesia.
Coding Specifications
| Modifier | Description | When to Use |
|---|---|---|
57 | Decision for surgery (not on provided list) | Data not available in the input. |