Pediatric Coding Alert

Question: Our pediatrician diagnosed one of our patients with fungal sinusitis, but I can’t find a code for that. How do I code the condition?

Florida Subscriber

Answer: There is no entry in the ICD-10 index for “Sinusitis: fungal,” or “Sinusitis: due to fungus.” This means there is no single code for fungal sinusitis, so you should look to using a two-step process to find the appropriate codes to describe the condition.

Step 1: Begin by choosing the appropriate sinusitis code from J01.- (Acute sinusitis) or J32.- (Chronic sinusitis) according to the diagnosis provided by your pediatrician. Add a fourth digit to specify the anatomic location of the sinusitis and, in the case of acute sinusitis, a fifth digit if the condition is recurrent. So, for example, you would code J01.01 (Acute recurrent maxillary sinusitis) if your pediatrician diagnosed the patient with acute recurrent sinusitis in the patient’s maxillary sinus.

Step 2: Use an additional code to identify the fungal agent that is the cause of the sinusitis, if known. You’ll find that code in the B35-B49 (Mycosis) code group. For example, an infection caused by saprophytic fungus, a common cause of fungal sinusitis, would be coded to B48.8 (Other specified mycoses).