The release of the 2022 ICD-10-CM book last week contained a welcome surprise for those who treat gastric cancer. Ten new diagnosis codes for gastric intestinal metaplasia will be available for reporting as of Oct. 1, 2021.
| K31A0 | Gastric intestinal metaplasia, unspecified |
| K31A11 | Gastric intestinal metaplasia without dysplasia, involving the antrum |
| K31A12 | Gastric intestinal metaplasia without dysplasia, involving the body (corpus) |
| K31A13 | Gastric intestinal metaplasia without dysplasia, involving the fundus |
| K31A14 | Gastric intestinal metaplasia without dysplasia, involving the cardia |
| K31A15 | Gastric intestinal metaplasia without dysplasia, involving multiple sites |
| K31A19 | Gastric intestinal metaplasia without dysplasia, unspecified site |
| K31A21 | Gastric intestinal metaplasia with low grade dysplasia |
| K31A22 | Gastric intestinal metaplasia with high grade dysplasia |
| K31A29 | Gastric intestinal metaplasia with dysplasia, unspecified |
Gastric cancer is the fourth most common cancer worldwide and the second leading cause of cancer deaths. Gastric intestinal metaplasia is an important precursor lesion to gastric cancer, but until now there were no specific diagnosis codes for it.
Robert Huang, MD, of Stanford University was among the experts who helped AGA get the new codes.
We are incredibly excited by these new ICD-10-CM codes defining gastric intestinal metaplasia. As highlighted by the 2020 AGA Clinical Practice Guidelines, there is a dearth of clinical and epidemiologic knowledge regarding gastric intestinal metaplasia prevalence and outcomes. We believe these new codes will assist clinicians in identifying and managing patients with gastric precancerous lesions, and serve as an important tool for future research studies. We sincerely encourage all clinicians to rapidly adopt these new codes, and to disseminate this knowledge to their colleagues.
