S72.4Fracture of lower end of femur

S72.4 is the ICD-10-CM diagnosis code for fracture of lower end of femur. It belongs to category S72 (fracture of femur), block S70-S79 (injuries to the hip and thigh) 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 9 subcodes must be used instead.

Within S72 (fracture of femur), S72.4 is specifically for fracture of lower end of femur. Related codes cover fracture of head and neck of femur (S72.0), Pertrochanteric fracture (S72.1), subtrochanteric fracture of femur (S72.2), fracture of shaft of femur (S72.3), other fracture of femur (S72.8) and unspecified fracture of femur (S72.9).

Codes in this range require a 7th character: A for initial encounter for closed fracture, B for initial encounter for open fracture type I or II, C for initial encounter for open fracture type IIIA, IIIB, or IIIC, D for subsequent encounter for closed fracture with routine healing, E for subsequent encounter for open fracture type I or II with routine healing, F for subsequent encounter for open fracture type IIIA, IIIB, or IIIC with routine healing and 10 more. Use placeholder "X" characters to fill any empty positions before the 7th character.

The conditions in its Excludes2 note aren't part of S72.4, but may be coded alongside it if the patient has both: fracture of shaft of femur (S72.3-) and physeal fracture of lower end of femur (S79.1-).

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