Letter re: Misidentification of Transcarotid Artery Revascularization by Current Procedural Terminology.

In this letter, we discussed the selection of patients undergoing Transcarotid Artery Revascularization (TCAR) using the Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) codes. We examined a previous study using CPT code 37215 to identify TCAR cases using the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS-NSQIP) database. As an ACS-NSQIP participating site, we have complete access to the ACS-NSQIP database, and we performed a more in-depth examination of the method. We found significant discrepancies in the method described and conclude that it is methodologically flawed to use CPT code 37215 to differentiate TCAR cases. This study not only re-evaluates the validity of the previous study but also has the potential to prevent other researchers from employing the erroneous methodology for TCAR selection using the CPT code, which is one of the most widely used standardizations of medical communication for surgical procedures. This is particularly pertinent given the recent "TCAR revolution", where significant attention has been focused on TCAR.

Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.