Neurology & Pain Management Coding Alert

Question: Encounter notes indicate that a patient suffered from “dystonic CP.” I’m pretty sure this is a type of cerebral palsy, but I’m unsure of which diagnosis code to choose. Can you help?

Massachusetts Subscriber

Answer: The ICD-10 code you’re looking for is G80.3 (Athetoid cerebral palsy). “Dystonic cerebral palsy” is listed as an alternate term for athetoid CP.

More on CP: There are several diagnosis codes in the G80.- (Cerebral palsy) code set. Here’s a list of the codes, along with information about alternate terms you might see when reporting these codes:

• G80.0 (Spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy)

o AKA: Congenital spastic paralysis (cerebral)

• G80.1 (Spastic diplegic cerebral palsy)

o AKA: Spastic cerebral palsy NOS

• G80.2 (Spastic hemiplegic cerebral palsy)
• G80.3 (Athetoid cerebral palsy)

o AKA: Double athetosis (syndrome)

o Dyskinetic cerebral palsy

o Dystonic cerebral palsy

o Vogt disease

• G80.4 (Ataxic cerebral palsy)
• G80.8 (Other cerebral palsy)

o AKA: Mixed cerebral palsy syndromes

• G80.9 (Cerebral palsy, unspecified)

o AKA: Cerebral palsy NOS.