Q: A patient sustains vertebral body fractures of C7 and T1 with complete quadriplegia due to cord contusion at C6-7 level. How should this injury be coded and what is the ISS?

A: AIS 98 – The correct codes are 640224.5 and 650430.2. The ISS is 29. It would be incorrect to assign the deficit twice but it is important to capture the two fractures which occur in two different ISS body regions. These codes are the same in AIS 2005.