ICD-10-CM › C00-D49 › C15-C26 › C15 Malignant neoplasm of esophagus › C15.3
Malignant neoplasm of upper third of esophagus
ValidICD-10-CM diagnosis code.
Valid for claims with a date of service in the current code year.
What has happened to this code
Every change the publisher made, from 2007 to now. Entries marked draft are from the pre-implementation releases: ICD-10 took effect on 1 October 2015, so nothing before FY2016 was ever valid on a claim.
- FY2007 Added to the draft code set draft Malignant neoplasm of upper third of esophagus
Official coding rules
Published by CDC for FY2027. A rule attached to a category binds every code beneath it, so the rules inherited from this code's ancestors are shown with the code they come from.
Inherited from C15 Malignant neoplasm of esophagus
Use additional code
- code to identify:
- alcohol abuse and dependence (F10.-)
Inherited from the C15-C26 section Malignant neoplasms of digestive organs (C15-C26)
Excludes1 - never coded here
- Kaposi's sarcoma of gastrointestinal sites (C46.4)
Excludes2 - not included here
- gastrointestinal stromal tumors (C49.A-)
How CDC's index refers to this code
Wording from the official alphabetic index. Much of it appears nowhere in the code description, which is why a search for the everyday phrase so often finds nothing.
- Neoplasm, neoplastic > esophagus > upper
- Neoplasm, neoplastic > esophagus > cervical
- Neoplasm, neoplastic > esophagus > proximal
Codes in the same group
| Code | Description | Status |
|---|---|---|
| C15.4 | Malignant neoplasm of middle third of esophagus | Valid |
| C15.5 | Malignant neoplasm of lower third of esophagus | Valid |
| C15.8 | Malignant neoplasm of overlapping sites of esophagus | Valid |
| C15.9 | Malignant neoplasm of esophagus, unspecified | Valid |