Neurosurgery Coding Alert

Question: Encounter notes indicate that the physician treated a patient with Reiter’s disease in the cervical and thoracic vertebrae. How should I report this diagnosis, and what is Reiter’s disease?

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Answer: For this patient, you should report M02.38 (Reiter’s disease, vertebrae) to represent their condition.

You might be tempted to report M02.39 (Reiter’s disease, multiple sites) instead, since the notes list cervical and thoracic Reiter’s disease. But since vertebrae is the most specific spinal designation for Reiter’s disease, two vertebral spots would still warrant a single ICD-10 code.

Reiter’s disease, also known as reactive arthritis, is a type of inflammatory arthritis that typically develops as a reaction to an infection in another part of the body. It is characterized by joint pain, swelling, and stiffness, along with other symptoms such as inflammation of the eyes, urinary tract symptoms, and skin lesions.