I65.09Occlusion and stenosis of unspecified vertebral artery

I65.09 is the ICD-10-CM diagnosis code for occlusion and stenosis of unspecified vertebral artery. It belongs to category I65 (occlusion and stenosis of precerebral arteries, not resulting in cerebral infarction), block I60-I69 (cerebrovascular diseases) and chapter 9 (diseases of the circulatory system). It is billable, so it can be reported on its own for dates of service from October 1, 2026 through September 30, 2027.

Within I65.0, choose I65.09 (unspecified vertebral artery) only when documentation doesn't support a more specific option: right vertebral artery (I65.01), left vertebral artery (I65.02) and bilateral vertebral arteries (I65.03).

It is not a CC or MCC, so as a secondary diagnosis it doesn't change the MS-DRG severity level.

In MS-DRG v44.0, it is part of the grouping logic for DRG 061 (Ischemic Stroke, Precerebral Occlusion or Transient Ischemia with Thrombolytic Agent with MCC, relative weight 2.7211), DRG 062 (Ischemic Stroke, Precerebral Occlusion or Transient Ischemia with Thrombolytic Agent with CC, relative weight 1.7781), DRG 063 (Ischemic Stroke, Precerebral Occlusion or Transient Ischemia with Thrombolytic Agent without CC/MCC, relative weight 1.455), DRG 067 (Precerebral Occlusion without Infarction with MCC, relative weight 1.4274) and DRG 068 (Precerebral Occlusion without Infarction without MCC, relative weight 0.9013), 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 433.20 (occlusion and stenosis of vertebral artery without mention of cerebral infarction).