General Surgery Coding Alert

Just one ICD-9 code tells the story for chronic deep vein thrombosis (DVT) of the lower extremities. But you won’t be able to count on that code anymore when ICD-10 goes into effect on Oct. 1.

 

Instead, you’ll need to know a host of codes based on the specific vein. Read on to find out how you’ll code these cases later under the new code set.

 

Note Vein and Side

 

Currently, you describe chronic lower-extremity DVT using 453.5 (Other venous embolism and thrombosis: Chronic venous embolism and thrombosis of deep vessels of lower extremity)

 

This code crosswalks to the following options in ICD-10:

The term “unspecified” in these codes means that the surgeon didn’t specify laterality. If the surgical note identifies the chronic DVT in either the right or left lower extremity, you have many more codes to choose from.

 

Do this: If the opt note identifies laterality, you should report a code similar to one of the above-listed codes, except change the sixth digit to “1” for the right side, or “2” for the left side, or “3” for bilateral, instead of “9” for unspecified side.