S12.0Fracture of first cervical vertebra

S12.0 is the ICD-10-CM diagnosis code for fracture of first cervical vertebra. It belongs to category S12 (fracture of cervical vertebra and other parts of neck), block S10-S19 (injuries to the neck) 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 6 subcodes must be used instead.

Within S12 (fracture of cervical vertebra and other parts of neck), S12.0 is specifically for fracture of first cervical vertebra. Related codes cover second cervical vertebra (S12.1), third cervical vertebra (S12.2), fourth cervical vertebra (S12.3), fifth cervical vertebra (S12.4), sixth cervical vertebra (S12.5), seventh cervical vertebra (S12.6), other parts of neck (S12.8) and neck, unspecified (S12.9).

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.

Code first: any associated cervical spinal cord injury (S14.0, S14.1-).

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