ICD-10-PCS Code For Chest And Neck: Procedure Code Group Overview

The International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision, Procedure Coding System (ICD-10-PCS) code group CW16 includes procedures performed to introduce radioactive materials for planar nuclear medicine imaging in the chest and neck anatomical regions. These ICD-10-PCS codes are used for inpatient documentation when radiopharmaceuticals are administered and single plane images of radioactive emissions are captured to diagnose or evaluate chest and neck conditions. Accurate coding within the ICD-10-PCS CW16 group is essential for proper inpatient reimbursement, as it captures the imaging procedure performed and supports clinical documentation accuracy.

Customize your policy alerts

Sign up for ICD-10-PCS Code For Chest And Neck: Procedure Code Group Overview policy alerts

Get alerted when relevant policies change without checking for updates manually.

Monitor payer policy activity

Receive email alerts as soon as relevant payer policies are published or updated.

Chest And Neck Planar Nuclear Medicine Imaging Procedure Overview

This procedure group includes introduction of radioactive materials for planar nuclear medicine imaging targeting the chest and neck anatomical regions. Procedures in this group involve administering radiopharmaceuticals and capturing single plane images from emissions to evaluate structure and function within the anatomical regions. Accurate coding of these inpatient procedures reflects the imaging performed and supports appropriate case mix and reimbursement.

Code Attributes

Character	ICD-10-PCS Category	Code Group Details
C	Section	Nuclear Medicine
W	Body System	Anatomical Regions
1	Operation	Planar Nuclear Medicine Imaging
6	Body Part	Chest and Neck

Explore openpayer tools

View all tools

ICD-10-PCS Code For Chest And Neck: Procedure Code Group Overview

Customize your policy alerts

Sign up for ICD-10-PCS Code For Chest And Neck: Procedure Code Group Overview policy alerts

Get alerted when relevant policies change without checking for updates manually.

Monitor payer policy activity

Receive email alerts as soon as relevant payer policies are published or updated.

Chest And Neck Planar Nuclear Medicine Imaging Procedure Overview

Code Attributes

Character	ICD-10-PCS Category	Code Group Details
C	Section	Nuclear Medicine
W	Body System	Anatomical Regions
1	Operation	Planar Nuclear Medicine Imaging
6	Body Part	Chest and Neck

When to Use

Use codes from this group when a radiopharmaceutical is administered specifically to obtain planar nuclear medicine images of the chest or neck during an inpatient stay. Codes apply when single plane emission imaging is performed to assess structure or function in those anatomical regions.

ICD-10-PCS Codes

7 rows

ICD-10-PCS Code	Description
CW161ZZ	Planar Nuclear Medicine Imaging of Chest and Neck using Technetium 99m (Tc-99m)
CW16DZZ	Planar Nuclear Medicine Imaging of Chest and Neck using Indium 111 (In-111)
CW16FZZ	Planar Nuclear Medicine Imaging of Chest and Neck using Iodine 123 (I-123)
CW16GZZ	Planar Nuclear Medicine Imaging of Chest and Neck using Iodine 131 (I-131)
CW16LZZ	Planar Nuclear Medicine Imaging of Chest and Neck using Gallium 67 (Ga-67)
CW16SZZ	Planar Nuclear Medicine Imaging of Chest and Neck using Thallium 201 (Tl-201)
CW16YZZ	Planar Nuclear Medicine Imaging of Chest and Neck using Other Radionuclide

Typical Clinical Scenarios

An elderly patient hospitalized with progressive dyspnea and an indeterminate anterior mediastinal mass on chest CT is admitted for further evaluation; inpatient planar nuclear medicine imaging is performed after administration of a radiopharmaceutical to assess functional activity and help distinguish thymic versus neoplastic tissue in the chest. Typical codes: CW161ZZ, CW16LZZ
A middle-aged patient with a history of differentiated thyroid cancer is admitted electively for post-ablative surveillance of residual or metastatic thyroid tissue in the neck; planar scintigraphy using a radioiodine tracer is administered to image iodine-avid neck structures and detect residual disease. Typical codes: CW16FZZ, CW16GZZ
A patient presents to the hospital with fever and a suspected infected central neck wound following recent surgery; planar nuclear medicine imaging with an appropriate radiopharmaceutical is obtained to identify inflammatory or infectious foci in the neck and chest when cross-sectional imaging is inconclusive. Typical codes: CW16DZZ, CW16YZZ

Related Codes

CW10-ABDOMEN-PLANAR-IMAGING

ICD-10-PCS Code For Abdomen: Procedure Code Group Overview

CW11-ABDOMEN-AND-PELVIS-PLANAR-IMAGING

ICD-10-PCS Code for Abdomen And Pelvis: Procedure Code Group Overview

CW13-CHEST-PLANAR-IMAGING

ICD-10-PCS Code For Chest: Procedure Code Group Overview

CW14-CHEST-AND-ABDOMEN-PLANAR

ICD-10-PCS Code For Chest And Abdomen: Procedure Code Group Overview

CW1B-HEAD-AND-NECK-PLANAR-IMAGING

ICD-10-PCS Code For Head And Neck: Procedure Code Group Overview

CW1D-LOWER-EXTREMITY-PLANAR-IMAGING

ICD-10-PCS Code For Lower Extremity: Procedure Code Group Overview

CW1J-PELVIC-REGION-PLANAR-IMAGING

ICD-10-PCS Code For Pelvic Region: Procedure Code Group Overview

CW1M-UPPER-EXTREMITY-PLANAR-IMAGING

ICD-10-PCS Code For Upper Extremity: Procedure Code Group Overview

CW1N-WHOLE-BODY-PLANAR-IMAGING

ICD-10-PCS Code For Whole Body: Procedure Code Group Overview

CW1Y-ANATOMICAL-REGIONS-PLANAR-IMAGING

ICD-10-PCS Code For Anatomical Regions: Procedure Code Group Overview

Showing 1–10 of 11

Frequently Asked Questions

References

1.CPT® Codes and Descriptions. AAPC. Retrieved Aug 11, 2026.Maintains the CPT code set's official descriptions and guidelines, licensed from the American Medical Association, used as the definitional source for CPT codes on this page.
2.HCPCS Quarterly Update. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Retrieved Aug 11, 2026.CMS's quarterly release of HCPCS Level II codes and short/long descriptors, the source for HCPCS code definitions and update history.
3.ICD-10-CM Full Code List. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Retrieved Aug 11, 2026.CMS's complete ICD-10-CM diagnosis code list, used to cross-reference diagnosis codes associated with this procedure or service.

Published by

Trek Health powers OpenPayer with a leading commercial payer intelligence platform, seamlessly converting fragmented payer data into actionable insights for provider organizations.

Trek Health ingests and normalizes Transparency in Coverage data and payer policy updates to give provider organizations a clear view of how commercial reimbursement behaves across markets, payers, and services. Our platform transforms raw payer disclosures into structured intelligence that supports contract evaluation, payer negotiations, and service line strategy. By combining market benchmarks with ongoing policy visibility, Trek helps teams identify variability, risk, and opportunity in commercial reimbursement. The result is faster insight, stronger negotiating positions, and more informed financial decisions.

Explore openpayer tools

View all tools

When to Use

ICD-10-PCS Codes

7 rows

ICD-10-PCS Code	Description
CW161ZZ	Planar Nuclear Medicine Imaging of Chest and Neck using Technetium 99m (Tc-99m)
CW16DZZ	Planar Nuclear Medicine Imaging of Chest and Neck using Indium 111 (In-111)
CW16FZZ	Planar Nuclear Medicine Imaging of Chest and Neck using Iodine 123 (I-123)
CW16GZZ	Planar Nuclear Medicine Imaging of Chest and Neck using Iodine 131 (I-131)
CW16LZZ	Planar Nuclear Medicine Imaging of Chest and Neck using Gallium 67 (Ga-67)
CW16SZZ	Planar Nuclear Medicine Imaging of Chest and Neck using Thallium 201 (Tl-201)
CW16YZZ	Planar Nuclear Medicine Imaging of Chest and Neck using Other Radionuclide

Typical Clinical Scenarios

An elderly patient hospitalized with progressive dyspnea and an indeterminate anterior mediastinal mass on chest CT is admitted for further evaluation; inpatient planar nuclear medicine imaging is performed after administration of a radiopharmaceutical to assess functional activity and help distinguish thymic versus neoplastic tissue in the chest. Typical codes: CW161ZZ, CW16LZZ
A middle-aged patient with a history of differentiated thyroid cancer is admitted electively for post-ablative surveillance of residual or metastatic thyroid tissue in the neck; planar scintigraphy using a radioiodine tracer is administered to image iodine-avid neck structures and detect residual disease. Typical codes: CW16FZZ, CW16GZZ
A patient presents to the hospital with fever and a suspected infected central neck wound following recent surgery; planar nuclear medicine imaging with an appropriate radiopharmaceutical is obtained to identify inflammatory or infectious foci in the neck and chest when cross-sectional imaging is inconclusive. Typical codes: CW16DZZ, CW16YZZ

Related Codes

CW10-ABDOMEN-PLANAR-IMAGING

ICD-10-PCS Code For Abdomen: Procedure Code Group Overview

CW11-ABDOMEN-AND-PELVIS-PLANAR-IMAGING

ICD-10-PCS Code for Abdomen And Pelvis: Procedure Code Group Overview

CW13-CHEST-PLANAR-IMAGING

ICD-10-PCS Code For Chest: Procedure Code Group Overview

CW14-CHEST-AND-ABDOMEN-PLANAR

ICD-10-PCS Code For Chest And Abdomen: Procedure Code Group Overview

CW1B-HEAD-AND-NECK-PLANAR-IMAGING

ICD-10-PCS Code For Head And Neck: Procedure Code Group Overview

CW1D-LOWER-EXTREMITY-PLANAR-IMAGING

ICD-10-PCS Code For Lower Extremity: Procedure Code Group Overview

CW1J-PELVIC-REGION-PLANAR-IMAGING

ICD-10-PCS Code For Pelvic Region: Procedure Code Group Overview

CW1M-UPPER-EXTREMITY-PLANAR-IMAGING

ICD-10-PCS Code For Upper Extremity: Procedure Code Group Overview

CW1N-WHOLE-BODY-PLANAR-IMAGING

ICD-10-PCS Code For Whole Body: Procedure Code Group Overview

CW1Y-ANATOMICAL-REGIONS-PLANAR-IMAGING

ICD-10-PCS Code For Anatomical Regions: Procedure Code Group Overview

Showing 1–10 of 11

Frequently Asked Questions

References

1.CPT® Codes and Descriptions. AAPC. Retrieved Aug 11, 2026.Maintains the CPT code set's official descriptions and guidelines, licensed from the American Medical Association, used as the definitional source for CPT codes on this page.
2.HCPCS Quarterly Update. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Retrieved Aug 11, 2026.CMS's quarterly release of HCPCS Level II codes and short/long descriptors, the source for HCPCS code definitions and update history.
3.ICD-10-CM Full Code List. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Retrieved Aug 11, 2026.CMS's complete ICD-10-CM diagnosis code list, used to cross-reference diagnosis codes associated with this procedure or service.

Published by

Trek Health powers OpenPayer with a leading commercial payer intelligence platform, seamlessly converting fragmented payer data into actionable insights for provider organizations.

ICD-10-PCS Code For Chest And Neck: Procedure Code Group Overview

Sign up for ICD-10-PCS Code For Chest And Neck: Procedure Code Group Overview policy alerts

Chest And Neck Planar Nuclear Medicine Imaging Procedure Overview

Code Attributes

ICD-10-PCS Code For Chest And Neck: Procedure Code Group Overview

Sign up for ICD-10-PCS Code For Chest And Neck: Procedure Code Group Overview policy alerts

Chest And Neck Planar Nuclear Medicine Imaging Procedure Overview

Code Attributes

When to Use

ICD-10-PCS Codes

Typical Clinical Scenarios

Related Codes

Which procedures are included in the ICD-10-PCS code group CW16?

What is the ICD-10-PCS section and operation for CW16 codes?

How do individual codes within CW16 differ?

Why is accurate coding within the CW16 group important for inpatient care?

Which codes in CW16 cover radionuclides not specifically named elsewhere in the list?

References

When to Use

ICD-10-PCS Codes

Typical Clinical Scenarios

Related Codes

Which procedures are included in the ICD-10-PCS code group CW16?

What is the ICD-10-PCS section and operation for CW16 codes?

How do individual codes within CW16 differ?

Why is accurate coding within the CW16 group important for inpatient care?

Which codes in CW16 cover radionuclides not specifically named elsewhere in the list?

References