S14.139AAnterior cord syndrome at unspecified level of cervical spinal cord, initial encounter

S14.139A is the ICD-10-CM diagnosis code for anterior cord syndrome at unspecified level of cervical spinal cord, initial encounter. It belongs to category S14 (injury of nerves and spinal cord at neck level), block S10-S19 (injuries to the neck) and chapter 19 (injury, poisoning and certain other consequences of external causes). It is billable, so it can be reported on its own for dates of service from October 1, 2026 through September 30, 2027.

The 7th character "A" means initial encounter: use it while the patient is receiving active treatment for the condition.

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 052 (Spinal Disorders and Injuries with CC/MCC, relative weight 1.7837), DRG 053 (Spinal Disorders and Injuries without CC/MCC, relative weight 0.9728), DRG 963 (Other Multiple Significant Trauma with MCC, relative weight 2.6363), DRG 964 (Other Multiple Significant Trauma with CC, relative weight 1.4972) and DRG 965 (Other Multiple Significant Trauma without CC/MCC, relative weight 1.0059), in MDC 01 (Diseases and Disorders of the Nervous System) and MDC 24 (Multiple Significant Trauma), 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 952.9 (unspecified site of spinal cord injury without evidence of spinal bone injury).