K40.3Unilateral inguinal hernia, with obstruction, without gangrene

K40.3 is the ICD-10-CM diagnosis code for unilateral inguinal hernia, with obstruction, without gangrene. It belongs to category K40 (inguinal hernia), block K40-K46 (hernia) and chapter 11 (diseases of the digestive system). It is a header code, so it can't be reported by itself; one of its 2 subcodes must be used instead.

Within K40, choose K40.3 (Unilateral inguinal hernia, with obstruction, without gangrene) only when documentation doesn't support a more specific option: bilateral inguinal hernia, with obstruction, without gangrene (K40.0), bilateral inguinal hernia, with gangrene (K40.1), bilateral inguinal hernia, without obstruction or gangrene (K40.2), unilateral inguinal hernia, with gangrene (K40.4) and unilateral inguinal hernia, without obstruction or gangrene (K40.9).

To report this condition, pick the subcode that matches the documentation: K40.30 (not specified as recurrent) and K40.31 (recurrent).

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