S15.029A Major laceration of unspecified carotid artery, initial encounter

Billable ICD-10-CM code, FY2026.

Built from S15.029 with 7th character A (initial encounter).

Applies from S15 Injury of blood vessels at neck level

Code also

• any associated open wound (S11.-)

7th character note

• The appropriate 7th character is to be added to each code from category S15

7th character required

• A — initial encounter
• D — subsequent encounter
• S — sequela

Applies from S15.0 Injury of carotid artery of neck

Applicable to

• Injury of carotid artery (common) (external) (internal, extracranial portion)
• Injury of carotid artery NOS

Excludes1 (never code together)

• injury of internal carotid artery, intracranial portion (S06.8)

Applies from S15.02 Major laceration of carotid artery

Applicable to

• Complete transection of carotid artery
• Traumatic rupture of carotid artery

Medicare Code Edits (MCE v43.1 (April 2026))

• Unspecified code (laterality): Unspecified codes for which a more specific code identifying laterality (right, left, bilateral) exists within the same code family.

Code annotations containing back-references to S15.029A

Back-references to S15

• Type 1 Excludes: S09.0 Injury of blood vessels of head, not elsewhere classified ("injury of precerebral blood vessels (S15.-)")
• Use Additional: S17 Crushing injury of neck ("injury of blood vessels (S15.-)")
• Type 2 Excludes: S27 Injury of other and unspecified intrathoracic organs ("injury of cervical esophagus (S10-S19)")
• Type 2 Excludes: S27 Injury of other and unspecified intrathoracic organs ("injury of trachea (cervical) (S10-S19)")

Nearby codes

• S15.022 Major laceration of left carotid artery
• S15.022A Major laceration of left carotid artery, initial encounter
• S15.022D Major laceration of left carotid artery, subsequent encounter
• S15.022S Major laceration of left carotid artery, sequela
• S15.029 Major laceration of unspecified carotid artery
• S15.029A Major laceration of unspecified carotid artery, initial encounter (this code)
• S15.029D Major laceration of unspecified carotid artery, subsequent encounter
• S15.029S Major laceration of unspecified carotid artery, sequela
• S15.09 Other specified injury of carotid artery
• S15.091 Other specified injury of right carotid artery
• S15.091A Other specified injury of right carotid artery, initial encounter