Gastroenterology Coding Alert

Question:  A chart states that the patient is having an EGD due to high risk of cancer, because she has Muir-Torre syndrome. What is the ICD-9 code for this condition?

Kentucky Subscriber

Answer: You can code the skin lesion and associated malignancies the patient has, along with V84.09 (Genetic susceptibility to other malignant neoplasm) for the genetic susceptibility to malignant neoplasm.

Muir-Torre Syndrome (MTS) pertains to a sebaceous adenoma skin tumor with internal malignancy. MTS is a variant of hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer (HNPCC). Patients with Muir-Torre syndrome present an increased risk of the types of cancer seen in HNPCC, including colorectal, endometrial (uterine), stomach, ovarian, small bowel (intestinal), urinary tract, and hepatobiliary (liver or bile duct) tract cancers.

You probably need more information for the condition. For one, you should know whether the MTS is primary or benign. You should also find out the location of the MTS, and if the procedure is a screening only. But since this condition is so rare, no specific ICD-9 code quite describes it.