Otolaryngology Coding Alert

Question: A patient came to our office because of pain and swelling in the area of one salivary gland. The physical exam and imaging tests resulted to a diagnosis of “acute recurrent sialoadenitis.” I know the correct ICD-9 code is 527.2. What is the ICD-10 code for it?

Nebraska Subscriber

Answer: The correct choice will be K11.22 (Acute recurrent sialoadenitis). ICD-10 expands the diagnoses into four K codes with fifth characters indicating whether the condition is acute, chronic, recurrent, or unspecified. Your options will be:

• K11.20 – Sialoadenitis, unspecified
• K11.21 – Acute sialoadenitis
• K11.22 – Acute recurrent sialoadenitis
• K11.23 – Chronic sialoadenitis.

What it is: Sialoadenitis is bacterial infection of a salivary gland, usually due to an obstructing stone or gland hyposecretion. Symptoms are swelling, pain, redness, and tenderness. Sialoadenitis usually occurs after hyposecretion or duct obstruction but may develop without an obvious cause. It is most common in the parotid gland.