S02.1Fracture of base of skull

S02.1 is the ICD-10-CM diagnosis code for fracture of base of skull. It belongs to category S02 (fracture of skull and facial bones), block S00-S09 (injuries to the head) and chapter 19 (injury, poisoning and certain other consequences of external causes). It is a header code, so it can't be reported by itself; one of its 4 subcodes must be used instead.

Within S02 (fracture of skull and facial bones), S02.1 is specifically for fracture of base of skull. Related codes cover fracture of vault of skull (S02.0), fracture of nasal bones (S02.2), fracture of orbital floor (S02.3), fracture of malar, maxillary and zygoma bones (S02.4), fracture of tooth (traumatic) (S02.5), fracture of mandible (S02.6), fractures of other specified skull and facial bones (S02.8) and fracture of unspecified skull and facial bones (S02.9).

Codes in this range require a 7th character: A for initial encounter for closed fracture, B for initial encounter for open fracture, D for subsequent encounter for fracture with routine healing, G for subsequent encounter for fracture with delayed healing, K for subsequent encounter for fracture with nonunion and S for sequela. Use placeholder "X" characters to fill any empty positions before the 7th character.

The conditions in its Excludes2 note aren't part of S02.1, but may be coded alongside it if the patient has both: lateral orbital wall (S02.84-), medial orbital wall (S02.83-) and orbital floor (S02.3-).

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