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P11.51: Birth injury to spine and spinal cord: With chronic paraplegia

Your spine and spinal cord were injured when you were born.

The spine is made up of the individual vertebrae. Between every 2 vertebrae there is a vertebral disc. The spinal cord is located in the spinal column. The spinal cord is made up of nerve fibers. The brain uses the nerve fibers to exchange information with the organs, skin and muscles.

If there are difficulties with the birth, a forceps may need to be used. The child’s spine and spinal cord can then suffer injury. This is the case with a breech birth, for example. The breech position is when the child is not lying with its head towards the bottom. The child is lying with its head towards the top. Below it then are other body parts such as its bottom, feet and knees. The child’s spine and spinal cord can also suffer injury in the case of a caesarean.

Depending on height at which the spinal cord is damaged, there can be a variety of symptoms. You may not be able to move your arms and legs properly. It may also be that you feel less, or nothing at all, on certain parts of your skin. You may have problems when passing water or emptying your bowels. If the spinal cord is injured very high up on the neck, breathing problems may also occur.

Additional indicator

On medical documents, the ICD code is often appended by letters that indicate the diagnostic certainty or the affected side of the body.

  • G: Confirmed diagnosis
  • V: Tentative diagnosis
  • Z: Condition after
  • A: Excluded diagnosis
  • L: Left
  • R: Right
  • B: Both sides

Further information

Note

This information is not intended for self-diagnosis and does not replace professional medical advice from a doctor. If you find an ICD code on a personal medical document, please also note the additional indicator used for diagnostic confidence.
Your doctor will assist you with any health-related questions and explain the ICD diagnosis code to you in a direct consultation if necessary.

Source

Provided by the non-profit organization “Was hab’ ich?” gemeinnützige GmbH on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Health (BMG).