2024 ICD-10-CM Diagnosis Code Q79.6

Specific Coding Applicable to Ehlers-Danlos syndromes

Non-specific codes like Q79.6 require more digits to indicate the appropriate level of specificity. Consider using any of the following ICD-10-CM codes with a higher level of specificity when coding for ehlers-danlos syndromes:

Convert Q79.6 to ICD-9-CM

• ICD-9-CM Code: 756.83 - Ehlers-danlos syndrome

Patient Education

Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome

Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS) is a group of inherited disorders that weaken connective tissues. Connective tissues are proteins that support skin, bones, blood vessels, and other organs.

EDS usually affects your skin, joints and blood vessel walls. Symptoms include:

• Loose joints
• Fragile, small blood vessels
• Abnormal scar formation and wound healing
• Soft, velvety, stretchy skin that bruises easily

There are several types of EDS. They can range from mild to life-threatening. About 1 in 5,000 people has EDS. There is no cure. Treatment involves managing symptoms, often with medicines and physical therapy. It also includes learning how to protect your joints and prevent injuries.

[Learn More in MedlinePlus]

Ehlers-Danlos syndrome

Ehlers-Danlos syndrome is a group of disorders that affect connective tissues supporting the skin, bones, blood vessels, and many other organs and tissues. Defects in connective tissues cause the signs and symptoms of these conditions, which range from mildly loose joints to life-threatening complications.

The various forms of Ehlers-Danlos syndrome have been classified in several different ways. Originally, 11 forms of Ehlers-Danlos syndrome were named using Roman numerals to indicate the types (type I, type II, and so on). In 1997, researchers proposed a simpler classification (the Villefranche nomenclature) that reduced the number of types to six and gave them descriptive names based on their major features. In 2017, the classification was updated to include rare forms of Ehlers-Danlos syndrome that were identified more recently. The 2017 classification describes 13 types of Ehlers-Danlos syndrome.

An unusually large range of joint movement (hypermobility) occurs in most forms of Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, and it is a hallmark feature of the hypermobile type. Infants and children with hypermobility often have weak muscle tone (hypotonia), which can delay the development of motor skills such as sitting, standing, and walking. The loose joints are unstable and prone to dislocation and chronic pain. In the arthrochalasia type of Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, infants have hypermobility and dislocations of both hips at birth.

Many people with the Ehlers-Danlos syndromes have soft, velvety skin that is highly stretchy (elastic) and fragile. Affected individuals tend to bruise easily, and some types of the condition also cause abnormal scarring. People with the classical form of Ehlers-Danlos syndrome experience wounds that split open with little bleeding and leave scars that widen over time to create characteristic "cigarette paper" scars. The dermatosparaxis type of the disorder is characterized by loose skin that sags and wrinkles, and extra (redundant) folds of skin may be present.

Bleeding problems are common in the vascular type of Ehlers-Danlos syndrome and are caused by unpredictable tearing (rupture) of blood vessels and organs. These complications can lead to easy bruising, internal bleeding, a hole in the wall of the intestine (intestinal perforation), or stroke. During pregnancy, women with vascular Ehlers-Danlos syndrome may experience rupture of the uterus. Additional forms of Ehlers-Danlos syndrome that involve rupture of the blood vessels include the kyphoscoliotic, classical, and classical-like types.

Other types of Ehlers-Danlos syndrome have additional signs and symptoms. The cardiac-valvular type causes severe problems with the valves that control the movement of blood through the heart. People with the kyphoscoliotic type experience severe curvature of the spine that worsens over time and can interfere with breathing by restricting lung expansion. A type of Ehlers-Danlos syndrome called brittle cornea syndrome is characterized by thinness of the clear covering of the eye (the cornea) and other eye abnormalities. The spondylodysplastic type features short stature and skeletal abnormalities such as abnormally curved (bowed) limbs. Abnormalities of muscles, including hypotonia and permanently bent joints (contractures), are among the characteristic signs of the musculocontractural and myopathic forms of Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. The periodontal type causes abnormalities of the teeth and gums.

[Learn More in MedlinePlus]

Code History

• FY 2024 - No Change, effective from 10/1/2023 through 9/30/2024
• FY 2023 - No Change, effective from 10/1/2022 through 9/30/2023
• FY 2022 - No Change, effective from 10/1/2021 through 9/30/2022
• FY 2021 - No Change, effective from 10/1/2020 through 9/30/2021
• FY 2020 - No Change, effective from 10/1/2019 through 9/30/2020
• FY 2019 - No Change, effective from 10/1/2018 through 9/30/2019
• FY 2018 - No Change, effective from 10/1/2017 through 9/30/2018
• FY 2017 - No Change, effective from 10/1/2016 through 9/30/2017
• FY 2016 - New Code, effective from 10/1/2015 through 9/30/2016. This was the first year ICD-10-CM was implemented into the HIPAA code set.