ICD-9 Code 649.73

Cervical shortening, antepartum condition or complication

Not Valid for Submission

649.73 is a legacy non-billable code used to specify a medical diagnosis of cervical shortening, antepartum condition or complication. This code was replaced on September 30, 2015 by its ICD-10 equivalent.

ICD-9: 649.73
Short Description:Cervical shortening-ante
Long Description:Cervical shortening, antepartum condition or complication

Convert 649.73 to ICD-10

The following crosswalk between ICD-9 to ICD-10 is based based on the General Equivalence Mappings (GEMS) information:

  • O26.872 - Cervical shortening, second trimester
  • O26.873 - Cervical shortening, third trimester

Code Classification

  • Complications of pregnancy, childbirth, and the puerperium (630–679)
    • Complications mainly related to pregnancy (640-649)
      • 649 Other conditions or status of the mother complicating pregnancy, childbirth, or the puerperium

Information for Medical Professionals

Code Edits

The Medicare Code Editor (MCE) detects and reports errors in the coding of claims data. The following ICD-9 Code Edits are applicable to this code:

Information for Patients


Cervix Disorders

The cervix is the lower part of the uterus, the place where a baby grows during pregnancy. The cervix has a small opening that expands during childbirth. It also allows menstrual blood to leave a woman's body.

Your health care provider may perform a Pap test during your health checkup to look for changes to the cells of the cervix, including cervical cancer. Other problems with the cervix include:

  • Cervicitis - inflammation of the cervix. This is usually from an infection.
  • Cervical incompetence - This can happen during pregnancy. The opening of the cervix widens long before the baby is due.
  • Cervical polyps and cysts - abnormal growths on the cervix

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Childbirth Problems

Childbirth is the process of giving birth to a baby. It includes labor and delivery. Usually everything goes well, but problems can happen. They may cause a risk to the mother, baby, or both. Some of the more common childbirth problems include:

  • Preterm (premature) labor, when your labor starts before 37 completed weeks of pregnancy
  • Premature rupture of membranes (PROM), when your water breaks too early. If labor does not start soon afterwards, this can raise the risk of infection.
  • Problems with the placenta, such as the placenta covering the cervix, separating from the uterus before birth, or being attached too firmly to the uterus
  • Labor that does not progress, meaning that labor is stalled. This can happen when
    • Your contractions weaken
    • Your cervix does not dilate (open) enough or is taking too long to dilate
    • The baby is not in the right position
    • The baby is too big or your pelvis is too small for the baby to move through the birth canal
  • Abnormal heart rate of the baby. Often, an abnormal heart rate is not a problem. But if the heart rate gets very fast or very slow, it can be a sign that your baby is not getting enough oxygen or that there are other problems.
  • Problems with the umbilical cord, such as the cord getting caught on the baby's arm, leg, or neck. It's also a problem if cord comes out before the baby does.
  • Problems with the position of the baby, such as breech, in which the baby is going to come out feet first
  • Shoulder dystocia, when the baby's head comes out, but the shoulder gets stuck
  • Perinatal asphyxia, which happens when the baby does not get enough oxygen in the uterus, during labor or delivery, or just after birth
  • Perineal tears, tearing of your vagina and the surrounding tissues
  • Excessive bleeding, which can happen when the delivery causes tears to the uterus or if you are not able to deliver the placenta after you give birth to the baby
  • Post-term pregnancy, when your pregnancy lasts more than 42 weeks

If you have problems in childbirth, your health care provider may need to give you medicines to induce or speed up labor, use tools to help guide the baby out of the birth canal, or deliver the baby by Cesarean section.

NIH: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development


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Health Problems in Pregnancy

Every pregnancy has some risk of problems. You may have problems because of a health condition you had before you got pregnant. You could also develop a condition during pregnancy. Other causes of problems during pregnancy can include being pregnant with more than one baby, a health problem in a previous pregnancy, drug use during pregnancy, or being over age 35. Any of these can affect your health, the health of your baby, or both.

If you have a chronic condition, you should talk to your health care provider about how to minimize your risk before you get pregnant. Once you are pregnant, you may need a health care team to monitor your pregnancy. Some common health problems that can complicate a pregnancy include:

  • High blood pressure
  • Polycystic ovary syndrome
  • Kidney problems
  • Autoimmune disorders
  • Obesity
  • HIV/AIDS
  • Cancer
  • Infections

Other conditions that can make pregnancy risky can happen while you are pregnant - for example, gestational diabetes and Rh incompatibility. Good prenatal care can help detect and treat them.

Some discomforts, like nausea, back pain, and fatigue, are common during pregnancy. Sometimes it is hard to know what is normal. Call your health care provider if something is bothering or worrying you.


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ICD-9 Footnotes

General Equivalence Map Definitions
The ICD-9 and ICD-10 GEMs are used to facilitate linking between the diagnosis codes in ICD-9-CM and the new ICD-10-CM code set. The GEMs are the raw material from which providers, health information vendors and payers can derive specific applied mappings to meet their needs.

  • Approximate Flag - The approximate flag is on, indicating that the relationship between the code in the source system and the code in the target system is an approximate equivalent.
  • No Map Flag - The no map flag indicates that a code in the source system is not linked to any code in the target system.
  • Combination Flag - The combination flag indicates that more than one code in the target system is required to satisfy the full equivalent meaning of a code in the source system.