C72.9Malignant neoplasm of central nervous system, unspecified

C72.9 is the ICD-10-CM diagnosis code for malignant neoplasm of central nervous system, unspecified. It belongs to category C72 (malignant neoplasm of spinal cord, cranial nerves and other parts of central nervous system), block C69-C72 (malignant neoplasms of eye, brain and other parts of central nervous system) and chapter 2 (neoplasms). It is billable, so it can be reported on its own for dates of service from October 1, 2026 through September 30, 2027.

Within C72, choose C72.9 (central nervous system, unspecified) only when documentation doesn't support a more specific option: spinal cord (C72.0), cauda equina (C72.1), olfactory nerve (C72.2), optic nerve (C72.3), acoustic nerve (C72.4) and other and unspecified cranial nerves (C72.5).

As a secondary diagnosis it is a CC (complication or comorbidity), which can move an inpatient stay into the "with CC" MS-DRG of its family, unless the principal diagnosis excludes it.

In MS-DRG v44.0, it is part of the grouping logic for DRG 054 (Nervous System Neoplasms with MCC, relative weight 1.5194) and DRG 055 (Nervous System Neoplasms without MCC, relative weight 1.0296), in MDC 01 (Diseases and Disorders of the Nervous System), as a principal or secondary diagnosis. The DRG a claim lands in depends on the principal diagnosis, procedures and any CC/MCC secondary diagnoses.

It has been part of ICD-10-CM since the code set took effect on October 1, 2015 and hasn't changed since.

Before ICD-10, this condition was coded in ICD-9-CM as 192.8 (malignant neoplasm of other specified sites of nervous system) and 192.9 (malignant neoplasm of nervous system, part unspecified).