Injury to sciatic nerve

This code represents a traumatic injury specifically affecting the sciatic nerve. This can include contusions, lacerations, or other direct damage to the nerve itself, leading to symptoms such as pain, numbness, tingling, or weakness along its distribution in the lower extremity.

Use this code when documentation clearly indicates a direct injury to the sciatic nerve, often resulting from trauma such as fractures, dislocations, penetrating wounds, or iatrogenic causes. The physician's notes should specify "sciatic nerve injury" or describe direct damage to this specific nerve.

• Differentiate from sciatica (e.g., due to disc herniation) which is nerve compression, not direct injury.
• Always look for an external cause code (E-code) to describe the circumstances of the injury.
• Specify laterality (left, right, or bilateral) if documented, though ICD-9-CM does not offer laterality for this specific code.