Alphabetical Index of ICD-10-WHO

Volume 3 of ICD-10-WHO contains the Alphabetical Index. It consists of an extensive collection of encoded diagnoses and other descriptions. Part I contains the Alphabetical Index of diseases and injuries (diseases and nature of injury). Part II contains the Alphabetical Index of external causes of injuries. Part III contains a table of drugs and chemicals with the encoding of poisoning and unwanted effects of these substances. In addition, Volume 3 also contains an introduction on structure and use of the Alphabetical Index.

Alphabetical Index includes synoyms and quasi-synoyms

The Alphabetical Index is not simply generated by alphabetically ordering the entries in the Tabular List.

Alphabetical Index contains more terms than the Tabular List

Many of the (diagnostic) terms included in the Alphabetical Index are not included in the Tabular List of ICD-10-WHO. The terms included in a particular category of the Tabular List are not final; they serve as examples for the content of that category and as an indication of its scope and delimitation. To that end, preferred terms are used. Iin addition to these preferred terms, the associated Alphabetical Index also contains many other currently used diagnostic terms, such as synonyms and quasi-synonyms. Due to this comprehensive approach, imprecise, unwanted and possibly outdated terms are often also included because they still may appear in medical notes. As a fundamental rule, all codes taken from the Alphabetical Index should be cross-checked with the Tabular List and the Instruction Manual.

The Alphabetical Index does not contain some of the codes in the Tabular List

Not all codes contained in the Systematic index are also included in the Alphabetical Index. For example, the following are missing:

• asterisk codes as individual codes because they can only be used in conjunction with a primary code (multiple encoding); however, they may be included in conjunction with a primary code
• some codes whose class titles in the Tabular List include unspecific information such as "other", "not otherwise specified", "multiple sites", "of a single specified site"; however, such codes for which the systematic index states specific inclusion terms are included in the Alphabetical Index

Part I: Alphabetical Index of Diseases and Injuries

Part I contains all terms that can be assigned to categories A00-T98 and Z00-Z99 of the Systematic index, with the exception of medicines, drugs and other chemical substances that may cause poisoning or other unwanted effects.

Table of neoplasms

The multi-page "Table of neoplasms" interrupts the 2-column print layout of the Alphabetical index with its 6-column structure. Under the lead term "Neoplasms", column 1 contains modifying terms, mainly topographical information, in standard bullet form. Columns 2-5 contain the associated ICD codes, differentiated according to their character: malignant (primary, secondary), in situ, benign and uncertain or unspecified behaviour. Integrated comments explain the use of the table.

Part II: External Causes and Injuries

Part II contains all descriptions associated with categories V01-Y98, with the exception of medicines, drugs and chemical substances. Descriptions included here do not represent medical diagnoses. On the contrary, they describe the circumstances under which a violent event occurred (e.g. fire, explosion, fall, attack, collision, flooding).

Part III: Table of medicines and chemicals

Part III contains the register of medicines, drugs and other chemical substances which can cause poisoning or other unwanted effects. This very comprehensive table includes for each substance a code number for poisoning from Chapter XIX (T36-T65) and the respective code number for external causes from Chapter XX (X40-X49, X60-X69, Y10-Y19). For medicines, drugs and biological substances, the table also includes a code for unwanted effects during therapeutic application (Y40-Y59). The structure of the table is the same as that of the table of neoplasms in Part I.