Hello,
My wife was prescribed a n ultrasound for "soft tissue" head and neck. I had some issues getting it scheduled, they wanted to know if it was vascular or nonvascular so I got the procedure code from docs office, ..anyway while looking up the code it describes us' no glands...she is taking this test because insurance won't approve an mra. The doc said doppler in the office but the code given isn't for a doppler ultrasound, rather there are codes that describe ultrasounds for blood flow study but that's not what she prescribed.
History: one side weakness at times, tingling on one side, she said she lost sight in one eye for a minute..shooting pain headaches up the back of her neck...these symptoms occur over a year or so, er two times for headaches, er offered advil and no diagnosis despite ct scan.
She's former smoker on cholesterol meds. The doc used the plastic artery to talk about plaque and what not saying even if it's blocked she would only prescribe cholesterol meds which she is already on in order to reduce the cholesterol built up so why test more?. Did mention the meds cause headaches but stroke like symptoms?
Back to my question, would a "soft tissue us" identify a blocked artery..the code was 76536 if I recall corect, the blood flow ultrasounds were 90 series codes. I can't get the doc to call me back to clarify what she is trying to identify with this test. I'm assuming that since we talked about arterial plaques and she mentioned a doppler study we should be getting an us that focuses on the arteries and veins not one that's going to check her glands. At this point we just scheduled the test and when she gets the results perhaps she will not blabbering through the appt to get us out the door and the next one in. I'm just worried we are going to do a redundant test to the er ct and then go back for results and it just drags on and on.
