Neurosurgery Coding Alert

Question: What are the diagnosis codes in ICD-10 for acute and chronic pain? Are these two considered as independent and discrete diagnosis or is there any overlap?

North Dakota Subscriber

Answer: Acute and chronic pain are discrete diagnosis. ICD-10 allows you to differentiate these two are report them separately using different codes.

Acute and chronic pain differ in duration (as the name implies) and triggering factors.

Acute pain: Acute pain typically lasts less than three to six months.  Acute pain, is usually directly related to tissue damage. Acute pain is common after accident, injury or surgery. Acute pain generally disappears when the underlying cause of the pain has been treated or has healed.

Chronic pain: Chronic pain is sustained and persistent pain that can last for six months or even more. The underlying cause may not always be evident in chronic pain.

ICD-10 codes for acute pain include the following:

• G89.0, Central pain syndrome
• G89.11, Acute pain due to trauma
• G89.12, Acute post-thoracotomy pain
• G89.18, Other acute postprocedural pain
• R52, Acute pain NOS.

ICD-10 codes for chronic pain include the following:

• G89.21, Chronic pain due to trauma
• G89.22, Chronic post-thoracotomy pain
• G89.28, Other chronic postprocedural pain
• G89.29, Other chronic pain.