Pathological dislocation of unsp knee, NEC

This code signifies a spontaneous displacement of the knee joint due to an underlying disease process, rather than trauma. It indicates that the knee joint surfaces have lost their normal anatomical alignment without an external force causing the dislocation. The "not elsewhere classified" designation means the specific underlying cause of the pathological dislocation is not captured by a more specific ICD-10-CM code.

Use this code when documentation clearly states a pathological dislocation of the knee, and the specific etiology (e.g., rheumatoid arthritis, infection, tumor) is either unknown, unconfirmed, or not separately coded. This code is appropriate when the physician explicitly diagnoses a non-traumatic knee dislocation resulting from a disease process.

• Always attempt to identify and code the underlying disease causing the pathological dislocation first, if known.
• This code is for an unspecified knee; if the laterality (left or right) is documented, a more specific code (M24.361, M24.362) should be used.
• Do not use this code for traumatic dislocations (S83.0 series) or recurrent dislocations (M24.46 series).