M46.5Other infective spondylopathies

M46.5 is the ICD-10-CM diagnosis code for other infective spondylopathies. It belongs to category M46 (other inflammatory spondylopathies), block M45-M49 (spondylopathies) and chapter 13 (diseases of the musculoskeletal system and connective tissue). It is a header code, so it can't be reported by itself; one of its 10 subcodes must be used instead.

Within M46, choose M46.5 (Other infective spondylopathies) only when documentation doesn't support a more specific option: spinal enthesopathy (M46.0), Sacroiliitis, not elsewhere classified (M46.1), osteomyelitis of vertebra (M46.2), infection of intervertebral disc (pyogenic) (M46.3), Discitis, unspecified (M46.4), other specified inflammatory spondylopathies (M46.8) and unspecified inflammatory spondylopathy (M46.9).

To report this condition, pick the subcode that matches the documentation: M46.50 (site unspecified), M46.51 (occipito-atlanto-axial region), M46.52 (cervical region), M46.53 (cervicothoracic region), M46.54 (thoracic region), M46.55 (thoracolumbar region), M46.56 (lumbar region), M46.57 (lumbosacral region) and 2 more.

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