11.01.05
November Question of the Month
Q: Patient A sustains a gun shot wound to the head with greater than 2 cm penetration. What is the correct AIS code and to which body region is this assigned for ISS purposes?
Patient B sustains a gun shot wound to the chest, into the pleural cavity but with no known lung or vessel involvement. What is the correct AIS code and to which body region is this assigned for ISS purposes?
A: Patient A is coded 116004.5 and is assigned to the ISS Head region. Patient B is coded 416002.1 and is assigned to the ISS External region.
Penetrating injury codes listed under the Whole Area section of the dictionary are generally assigned to the External body region for ISS purposes. An exception is made for penetrating injuries to the head.
In AIS 2005 there is a new code for massive destruction of the whole face (216008.4) which is assigned to the Face region for ISS purposes although all the other penetrating codes for Face are assigned to the External body region for ISS purposes.
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