ICD-10 Codes for Deep Vein Thrombosis (I82.4-, I82.5-)

How ICD-10 organizes DVT

Lower-extremity DVT lives in category I82, and the structure is a grid: acute or chronic decides the subcategory, the named vein decides the next character, and laterality decides the last one. Two codes outside I82 complete the picture — the history code and the anticoagulant status code.

The named veins each get their own subcategory: femoral, iliac, popliteal, tibial, peroneal, and calf muscular, plus “other specified” at I82.49- and I82.59-. Upper-extremity clots also have named-vein codes for the axillary (I82.A-), subclavian (I82.B-), and internal jugular (I82.C-) veins.

The codes you'll use most

Need the iliac, peroneal, calf muscular, or bilateral codes? Search the full I82 family in the lookup tool.

How to choose the right DVT code

1. Place the clot on the acute–chronic–history axis

A newly diagnosed clot is acute — I82.4-. A note that says only “DVT” with no qualifier also lands here: “deep vein thrombosis NOS” is an inclusion term under the acute unspecified codes (I82.40-), so acute is where unqualified documentation goes — though a quick chronicity query often earns a better code. A clot the provider documents as chronic — still present on imaging, still being managed — is I82.5-. And a DVT that is resolved is no longer coded from I82 at all: it becomes Z86.718, personal history of other venous thrombosis and embolism. The guidelines define personal history codes as a past condition that no longer exists and is not receiving any treatment, but that has the potential for recurrence.

2. Name the vein, then add laterality

The fifth character selects the vein — femoral, iliac, popliteal, tibial, peroneal, calf muscular — and the sixth selects right, left, bilateral, or unspecified. An ultrasound report almost always names the vein, so the unspecified-vein codes (I82.40-, I82.50-) should be the exception, not the default. Same for laterality: the side is nearly always in the record.

3. Add the anticoagulant status code

The chronic codes carry an instruction straight from the tabular: use additional code, if applicable, for associated long-term (current) use of anticoagulants (Z79.01). The same pairing is standard with the history code — a patient whose DVT has resolved but who stays on an anticoagulant for secondary prevention is Z86.718 plus Z79.01. The status code is what tells the payer the risk is still being actively managed.

4. Confirm it belongs in I82.4- or I82.5- at all

Three near-neighbors to rule out. Upper-extremity clots code to I82.6- (acute) or I82.7- (chronic), with the named-vein A/B/C subcategories for axillary, subclavian, and internal jugular. Pregnancy changes the chapter: category I82 carries a code-first note for venous embolism and thrombosis complicating pregnancy, childbirth, and the puerperium, so those encounters lead with an obstetric code. And superficial findings leave the DVT codes too, in two directions: phlebitis or thrombophlebitis language sends the finding to I80.- (one carve-out: the index routes phlebitis of a varicose vein to the I83 inflammation codes), while a superficial vein thrombosis documented without phlebitis language — the saphenous vein is the classic case — codes to I82.81- (more on that boundary below).

Common DVT coding mistakes

• Coding chronic DVT for what is actually a history of DVT — or the reverse. I82.5- means the clot is still there; Z86.718 means it's gone. The Excludes1 note under the chronic codes makes the two mutually exclusive, and payers read them very differently.
• Defaulting to the unspecified-vein codes when the vein is named. If the ultrasound says “left popliteal vein,” I82.432 is the code — not I82.402, and certainly not I82.409.
• Dropping laterality. The unspecified-side characters exist for genuinely undocumented cases, which are rare. Right, left, or bilateral is almost always in the record.
• Forgetting Z79.01. The chronic codes ask for it by note, and history-of-DVT encounters on extended anticoagulation need it to explain the ongoing drug management.
• Mixing up the I80 and I82 families. Superficial thrombophlebitis — common alongside varicose veins — codes to I80.-. Category I80 carries an Excludes1 for venous embolism and thrombosis of the lower extremities (I82.4-, I82.5-, I82.81-), so don't report a phlebitis code and a DVT code for the same leg finding.

A worked example

Proximal vs. distal: turning ultrasound language into a code

Vascular notes sort DVT by clinical geography: proximal means the popliteal vein and above (popliteal, femoral, iliac) and carries the higher embolization risk; distal means the calf veins (tibial, peroneal, calf muscular). ICD-10-CM speaks this language, but only as a fallback. I82.4Y- and I82.4Z- (and their chronic twins I82.5Y-, I82.5Z-) exist for notes that say only “proximal DVT” or “distal DVT” without naming a vein. When the report names the vein — and a duplex report almost always does — the named-vein code wins: “distal DVT in the right peroneal vein” is I82.451, not I82.4Z1.

Two footnotes on the grid. The peroneal and calf muscular vein codes (I82.45-, I82.46- and their chronic counterparts I82.55-, I82.56-) were added in FY2020, effective October 1, 2019 — older cheat sheets file those veins under “other specified.” And when a DVT leaves lasting damage behind, the story continues outside I82: chronic venous changes downstream of an old clot — postthrombotic syndrome — code to I87.0-, covered in our guide to chronic venous insufficiency.

What the note needs to document

• Where the clot sits on the axis: acute, chronic, or resolved (history)
• The named vein(s) from the imaging report — not just “leg DVT”
• Laterality — right, left, or bilateral
• Long-term anticoagulation, so Z79.01 can ride along with the chronic or history code

Frequently asked questions