Coding fractures in ICD10: Difference between revisions

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There are two main categories of fractures:

*[[#Fractures due to trauma or injury]] -- by definition these have a so-called '''external''' cause or mechanism of injury". This means that the fracture was due to something external to the patient, such as getting hit by a baseball bat, or hitting their head on the pavement after falling off a ladder.

*[[Fractures due to trauma or injury]] -- by definition these have a so-called '''external''' cause or mechanism of injury". This means that the fracture was due to something external to the patient, such as getting hit by a baseball bat, or hitting their head on the pavement after falling off a ladder.

*[[#Nontraumatic fractures]] -- for these the main cause is something ''internal'' to the patient, such as a metastatic tumor to bone that weakens it.

**While in these cases the fracture might well happen after some relatively minor stress to that bone (e.g. trying to open a jar of pickles, or lifting a heavy book), these should be included in the nontraumatic fracture category unless that stress would have led to a fracture in the absence of whatever weakened the bone.

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 There are two main categories of fractures:
-*[[#Fractures due to trauma or injury]] -- by definition these have a so-called '''external''' cause or mechanism of injury".  This means that the fracture was due to something external to the patient, such as getting hit by a baseball bat, or hitting their head on the pavement after falling off a ladder.
+*[[Fractures due to trauma or injury]] -- by definition these have a so-called '''external''' cause or mechanism of injury".  This means that the fracture was due to something external to the patient, such as getting hit by a baseball bat, or hitting their head on the pavement after falling off a ladder.
 *[[#Nontraumatic fractures]] -- for these the main cause is something ''internal'' to the patient, such as a metastatic tumor to bone that weakens it.
 **While in these cases the fracture might well happen after some relatively minor stress to that bone (e.g. trying to open a jar of pickles, or lifting a heavy book), these should be included in the nontraumatic fracture category unless that stress would have led to a fracture in the absence of whatever weakened the bone.