When the surgeon removes lymph nodes during a partial mastectomy, it may be confusing as to how to the mastectomy and the lymph excision. A common point of confusion is whether they should be bundled or reported separately. The answer is pretty cut and dried. In most cases, with partial mastectomy, the surgeon will perform an axillary lymphadenectomy to remove the lymph nodes between the pectoralis major and the pectoralis minor muscles. The surgeon may also remove the nodes in the axilla through a separate incision at the same time. When this occurs, you should not report the mastectomy and lymphadenectomy (38745, Axillary lymphadenectomy; complete) separately. Instead, you should use …