Cardiac Murmur ICD-10-CM Codes
Read this short guide to learn about Cardiac Murmur ICD codes you can use.
Fact Checked by Ericka Pingol.
What Cardiac Murmur ICD codes can I use?
If you’re looking for Cardiac Murmur ICD codes, there are two to pick from:
- R01.1 - Cardiac murmur, unspecified
This ICD-10 code is meant to be used if a patient is confirmed to have cardiac murmurs during an examination.
This code comes with an unspecified label. What is unspecified is the level or intensity of the cardiac murmur. If the cardiac murmur is benign/innocent, please use Item 2. There are no specific higher-level codes, so you’ll have to resort to this for non-benign/innocent cases.
- R01.0 - Benign and innocent cardiac murmurs
This ICD-10 code is meant to be used if a patient is confirmed to have benign/innocent cardiac murmurs.
Benign or innocent cardiac murmurs are nothing to worry about because they don’t point to a heart problem.
Please note that these ICD-10 codes are not valid as principal diagnoses. They are meant to be used to explain things about a patient’s health status. In this case, they have cardiac murmurs. The main diagnosis should be specific to what is causing the cardiac murmurs.
Are these Cardiac Murmur ICD codes billable?
Yes. Despite not being valid as principal diagnoses, these Cardiac Murmur-related ICD-10 codes are valid in general and billable.
Clinical Information
When healthcare professionals speak of Cardiac Murmurs, they talk about the “abnormal” sounds they hear through a stethoscope when they conduct physical examinations related to the heart.
These sounds are caused by abnormal blood flow in the blood vessels near the heart or the heart itself. The sounds are referred to as Systolic or Diastolic.
A systolic cardiac murmur is a murmur that is produced whenever the heart muscle contracts.
A diastolic cardiac murmur is a murmur that is produced whenever the heart muscle relaxes.
If a cardiac murmur is heard during the contraction of the muscle until it relaxes, it is called a continuous cardiac murmur.
Cardiac murmurs don’t necessarily point to a heart problem but are still worth examining because they might. Diastolic and continuous heart murmurs are considered indicators of heart problems, so if your patient has either of these murmurs, it’s best to conduct a further examination just to ensure.
Synonyms Include:
- Aortic murmur
- Cardiac murmur, intensity grade I/VI
- Cardiac murmur, intensity grade II/VI
- Cardiac murmur, intensity grade III/VI
- Cardiac murmur, intensity grade IV/VI
- Cardiac murmur, intensity grade V/VI
- Cardiac murmur, intensity grade VI/VI
- Crescendo cardiac murmur
- Decrescendo cardiac murmur
- Heart murmur
- Heart murmur duration, long
- Heart murmur duration, short
Commonly asked questions
Earlier, we mentioned that cardiac murmurs don’t necessarily mean that a person has a heart problem, but if they do have a heart problem, they will likely have any one of these:
- Endocarditis
- Heart valve disease
- Hyperthyroidism
- Anemia
- Carcinoid Heart Disease
When conducting a physical examination of a patient, it’s best to check for the following:
- If they feel tired despite not having done anything strenuous
- If they feel tightness and/or pain in their chest
- If they have heart palpitations
- If they have shortness of breath
- If they have bluish skin
Cardiac murmurs usually don’t have symptoms, but if they have the symptoms above and you hear murmurs through a stethoscope, it’s likely caused by an underlying condition.
Childhood is when innocent cardiac murmurs are frequently heard, particularly during growth spurts. Exercise and pregnancy both increase the risk of developing innocent cardiac murmurs.
