Alphabetic Index FY2027

T81.50

Unspecified complication of foreign body accidentally left in body following procedure

FY2027Chapter 19: Injury, poisoning and certain other consequences of external causes/T80–T88 Complications of surgical and medical care, not elsewhere classified

Non-billable headerNot valid on its own. Use one of the more specific codes under it.

T81.50 is a non-billable ICD-10-CM code header for unspecified complication of foreign body accidentally left in body following procedure. Report a more specific code from it instead. It is part of the FY2027 code set, effective October 1, 2026. The more specific codes under it are T81.500 Unspecified complication of foreign body accidentally left in body following surgical operation, T81.501 Unspecified complication of foreign body accidentally left in body following infusion or transfusion, T81.502 Unspecified complication of foreign body accidentally left in body following kidney dialysis, T81.503 Unspecified complication of foreign body accidentally left in body following injection or immunization and 6 more. Its coding notes include a Use additional code instruction and 35 Excludes2 entries.

7th characters

Every code below needs one of these (defined at T81).

The appropriate 7th character is to be added to each code from category T81

  • Ainitial encounter
  • Dsubsequent encounter
  • Ssequela

Guidelines tips

From the FY2027 Official Guidelines. ICD10Ref adds no rules of its own.

The 7th character depends on whether the patient is in active treatment, not on who sees the patient. An aftercare Z code is not used for injury aftercare.

Guidelines I.C.19.aInjuries: application of 7th charactersRead the official text

A complication code needs the provider's documented cause-and-effect link between the care and the condition. Some T codes already include the type of procedure, so no external cause code is needed.

Guidelines I.B.16; I.C.19.g.4Complications of careRead the official text

Use additional code

Add the listed code as a secondary code, if known.

Inherited from T81 Complications of procedures, not elsewhere classified
  • code for adverse effect, if applicable, to identify drug (T36-T50 with fifth or sixth character 5)
Also from chapter/block level (4 notes)
Inherited from T80–T88 Complications of surgical and medical care, not elsewhere classified
  • code for adverse effect, if applicable, to identify drug (T36-T50 with fifth or sixth character 5)
  • code(s) to identify the specified condition resulting from the complication
  • code to identify devices involved and details of circumstances (Y62-Y82)
Inherited from Chapter 19 Injury, poisoning and certain other consequences of external causes
  • code to identify any retained foreign body, if applicable (Z18.-)

Excludes2

Not included here. Both codes may be reported if the patient has both conditions.

Inherited from T81 Complications of procedures, not elsewhere classified
  • complications following immunization (T88.0-T88.1)
  • complications following infusion, transfusion and therapeutic injection (T80.-)
  • complications of transplanted organs and tissue (T86.-)
  • specified complications classified elsewhere, such as:
Also from chapter/block level (23 notes)
Inherited from T80–T88 Complications of surgical and medical care, not elsewhere classified
  • any encounters with medical care for postprocedural conditions in which no complications are present, such as:
    • artificial opening status (Z93.-)
    • closure of external stoma (Z43.-)
    • fitting and adjustment of external prosthetic device (Z44.-)
    • burns and corrosions from local applications and irradiation (T20-T32)
    • complications of surgical procedures during pregnancy, childbirth and the puerperium (O00-O9A)
    • mechanical complication of respirator [ventilator] (J95.850)
    • poisoning and toxic effects of drugs and chemicals (T36-T65 with fifth or sixth character 1-4 or 6)
    • postprocedural fever (R50.82)
  • specified complications classified elsewhere, such as:
Inherited from Chapter 19 Injury, poisoning and certain other consequences of external causes
  • birth trauma (P10-P15)
  • obstetric trauma (O70-O71)

Notes

Also from chapter/block level (2 notes)
Inherited from Chapter 19 Injury, poisoning and certain other consequences of external causes
  • Use secondary code(s) from Chapter 20, External causes of morbidity, to indicate cause of injury. Codes within the T section that include the external cause do not require an additional external cause code
  • The chapter uses the S-section for coding different types of injuries related to single body regions and the T-section to cover injuries to unspecified body regions as well as poisoning and certain other consequences of external causes.

More specific codes under T81.50 10