1 ICD-9-CM 438.9 is a billable medical code that can be used to indicate a diagnosis on a reimbursement claim, however, 438.9 should only be used for claims with a date of service on or before September 30, 2015.
1. vein-a blood vessel that carries blood from the capillaries toward the heart; all veins except the pulmonary vein carry unaerated blood. vena, venous blood vessel. accessory cephalic vein, vena cephalica accessoria-a vein that passes along the radial edge of the forearm and joins the cephalic vein near the elbow.
The correct way to define a vein is to say that a vein is a blood vessel that carries blood back to the heart. This is a simple but vital concept as whilst the pulmonary veins carry blood back to the heart, the blood they carry is oxygenated blood brought back to the heart from the lungs following gas exchange (carbon dioxide exchanged for oxygen).