Pathological fracture, unspecified femur

Not billableICD-10-CM diagnosis code.

This code exists but cannot be submitted on its own. It groups the more specific codes beneath it.

A category header for its whole life, FY2016 onwards. It has never been valid for submission on its own.

Submit one of these 6 more specific codes instead:

M84.453A Pathological fracture, unspecified femur, initial encounter for fracture
M84.453D Pathological fracture, unspecified femur, subsequent encounter for fracture with routine healing
M84.453G Pathological fracture, unspecified femur, subsequent encounter for fracture with delayed healing
M84.453K Pathological fracture, unspecified femur, subsequent encounter for fracture with nonunion
M84.453P Pathological fracture, unspecified femur, subsequent encounter for fracture with malunion
M84.453S Pathological fracture, unspecified femur, sequela

What has happened to this code

Every change the publisher made, from 2014 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.

FY2014 Added to the draft code set draft Pathological fracture, unspecified femur

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 M84 Disorder of continuity of bone

Excludes2 - not included here

traumatic fracture of bone-see fracture, by site

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.

Broken > leg
Injury > leg > fracture
Injury > thigh > fracture
Fracture, traumatic > leg > femur
Fracture, traumatic > femur, femoral > transcervical
Fracture, pathological > femur

Codes in the same group

Code	Description	Status
M84.451	Pathological fracture, right femur	Not billable
M84.452	Pathological fracture, left femur	Not billable
M84.454	Pathological fracture, pelvis	Not billable
M84.459	Pathological fracture, hip, unspecified	Not billable