[Primary and secondary interventions--a concept in surgical documentation].

Nowadays systematic documentation of surgical procedures is absolutely necessary in all departments of surgery and will soon be required by law. Therefore code systems are essential. Amongst numerous systems the ICPM-GE classification has been chosen as basis. In the department for abdominal and transplantation surgery at Hanover Medical School the ICPM-GE classification has been extended by a concept of coding main and suboperations. This concept considers the fact that in an individual patient the surgical procedure may consist of different and standardized suboperations. This concept widens and simplifies the possibility of documentation considerably.