This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
ICD-10 code needed for injuries seen in area of Scotland known for mountain biking
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
BIRMINGHAM, England — Five of the “7 Stanes” world-class mountain bike trails are in the area of southern Scotland served by the Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary, in Dumfries, United Kingdom. Two investigators there recently studied the types of cycling injuries incurred by local and visiting cyclists. While they found they were well-equipped to deal with the injuries, they determined that adding another ICD-10 code specific to mountain biking injuries would benefit the athletes who needed care or were admitted locally for surgery or a hospital stay.
“The advantage of this would be to assess safety of the sport, to assess the burden on our local health care division and also on health care providers across the country,” James A. Gillespie, who presented the study, said.
He and colleagues studied the burden on their department due to its proximity to the biking trails and found that 29 mountain bike riders were injured and treated at their institution in 2010. The majority of injured athletes were visitors to the area.
In all, treating the injured riders required 1,130 hours of operating theatre time and 38 fracture clinic appointments.
“The problem was that coding encompassed any cycling accidents and we would have to make manual modifications to define the specifics,” Gillespie said, explaining that ICD-10 codes V10-V19 are currently designated for general pedal cyclist injuries.
“There is actually space to have a sub code of 0.7,” he said.
Accident and emergency departments could plan better if there was a more specific code for mountain bike injuries, Gillespie said as he made his case for a national code for mountain bike injuries.
The surgeries comprised ankle, calcaneus and distal radius open reduction and internal fixation, syndesmosis screw removal, lower and upper extremity manipulations, as well as wound debridement and closure.
“Other noteworthy admissions were five head injuries, including two cervical spine fractures,” Gillespie and colleagues wrote in the abstract.
Reference:
Gillespie JA. Paper #288. Presented at: British Orthopaedic Association Congress. Oct.1-4, 2013. Birmingham, England.
Disclosure: Orthopaedics Today Europe was unable to determine Gillespie’s relevant financial disclosures.