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Pleural effusion diagnosis sequencing
Date: Mar 12, 2024
Question:
When a cancer patient has non-malignant pleural effusion and the fluid has not been sent off for any testing, would the first listed diagnosis be J90 followed by the cancer code? We know that when it is a malignant effusion the cancer is coded first, but we're unsure on the sequencing when the fluid is non-malignant.
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