ICD-9 Code 668.21

Central nervous system complications of anesthesia or other sedation in labor and delivery, delivered, with or without mention of antepartum condition

Not Valid for Submission

668.21 is a legacy non-billable code used to specify a medical diagnosis of central nervous system complications of anesthesia or other sedation in labor and delivery, delivered, with or without mention of antepartum condition. This code was replaced on September 30, 2015 by its ICD-10 equivalent.

ICD-9: 668.21
Short Description:Cns compl lab/del-deliv
Long Description:Central nervous system complications of anesthesia or other sedation in labor and delivery, delivered, with or without mention of antepartum condition

Convert 668.21 to ICD-10

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

  • O74.3 - Cnsl complications of anesthesia during labor and delivery

Code Classification

  • Complications of pregnancy, childbirth, and the puerperium (630–679)
    • Complications occurring mainly in the course of labor and delivery (660-669)
      • 668 Complications of the administration of anesthetic or other sedation in labor and delivery

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


Anesthesia

What is anesthesia?

Anesthesia is the use of medicines to prevent pain during surgery and other procedures. These medicines are called anesthetics. They may be given by injection, inhalation, topical lotion, spray, eye drops, or skin patch. They cause you to have a loss of feeling or awareness.

What is anesthesia used for?

Anesthesia may be used in minor procedures, such as filling a tooth. It could be used during childbirth or procedures such as colonoscopies. And it is used during minor and major surgeries.

In some cases, a dentist, nurse, or doctor may give you an anesthetic. In other cases, you may need an anesthesiologist. This is a doctor who specializes in giving anesthesia.

What are the types of anesthesia?

There are several different types of anesthesia:

  • Local anesthesia numbs a small part of the body. It might be used on a tooth that needs to be pulled or on a small area around a wound that needs stitches. You are awake and alert during local anesthesia.
  • Regional anesthesia is used for larger areas of the body such as an arm, a leg, or everything below the waist. You may be awake during the procedure, or you may be given sedation. Regional anesthesia may be used during childbirth, a Cesarean section(C-section), or minor surgeries.
  • General anesthesia affects the whole body. It makes you unconscious and unable to move. It is used during major surgeries, such as heart surgery, brain surgery, back surgery, and organ transplants.

What are the risks of anesthesia?

Anesthesia is generally safe. But there can be risks, especially with general anesthesia, including:

  • Heart rhythm or breathing problems
  • An allergic reaction to the anesthesia
  • Delirium after general anesthesia. Delirium makes people confused. They may be unclear about what is happening to them. Some people over the age of 60 have delirium for several days after surgery. It can also happen to children when they first wake up from anesthesia.
  • Awareness when someone is under general anesthesia. This usually means that the person hears sounds. But sometimes they can feel pain. This is rare.

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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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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.