Radiology Coding Alert

Question: What's the correct ICD-9 code for a chronic lumbar vertebral pathologic fracture?Virginia SubscriberAnswer: Code 733.13 (Pathologic fracture of vertebrae) describes this diagnosis.Support: A note under 733.1x (Pathologic fracture) tells you that the code range applies to chronic fractures.Additionally, Coding Clinic for ICD-9-CM (2008, vol. 25, no. 3) published a similar question, in which a patient at a skilled nursing facility was receiving medication for a chronic pathological vertebral fracture (among other services). Coding Clinic indicated 733.13 was the proper code for the patient. An aftercare code would not be correct because it would apply to a patient healing from an acute fracture.