Cardiology Coding Alert
Check ICD-9 and ICD-10 Options for Enlarged Aorta
Question: Which diagnosis code should I use for an enlarged abdominal aorta? It hasn’t been confirmed as an aneurysm yet.
Codify Member
Answer: If you don’t have the findings of a confirmatory exam to work with, 447.8 (Other specified disorders of arteries and arterioles) may apply. This is the code the index shows for the entry “hypertrophy, artery NEC.” Hypertrophy means abnormal enlargement. ICD-10-CM points to I77.89 (Other specified disorders of arteries and arterioles) for this index entry.
Also, check the documentation to see whether the cardiologist specified abdominal aortic ectasia. For that confirmed diagnosis, use 447.72 (Abdominal aortic ectasia). “Aortic ectasia refers to mild dilation of the aorta that is not defined as an aneurysm, usually less than 3 cm in diameter,” according to ICD-9-CM Coding Clinic (2010, vol. 27, no. 4). The matching ICD-10 code is I77.811 (Abdominal aortic ectasia).
Cardiology Coding Alert
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