The Board found that the veteran's current throat and neck disabilities are not related to his in-service retropharyngeal abscess, and thus denied service connection for these conditions.
The deciding factor: The preponderance of evidence indicated that the veteran's current dysphonia and nasal septal perforation were not related to his in-service retropharyngeal abscess or directly to service.
- Claimed conditions
- retropharyngeal abscess, mild dysphonia, nasal septal perforation
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- February 8, 2006
- Citation
- 0603554
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,156 · Granted: 29% (granted or partly granted, in the vetted decisions on this site)
Judge attribution: 2025 complete; earlier years partial.
This is a plain-language summary generated by AI from a public Board of Veterans’ Appeals decision. It can contain errors — always verify against the original. Look up the original decision on VA.gov (opens in a new tab) using citation 0603554.
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Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for the Veteran's current septal perforation and residuals of a deviated septum, finding that these conditions were incurred in active service.
- Granted
The Veteran's nasal disability, resulting in a persistent septal perforation causing headaches, pain, tenderness of the sinuses, and constant purulent discharge, is rated at 50 percent. The Veteran's lumbar spine disability, with multilevel degenerative changes and productive of forward flexion limited to 60 degrees with pain, but no ankylosis or other severe manifestations, is rated at 20 percent.
- Denied
The Board finds that the Veteran's current nasal problems are less likely than not to represent an aggravation of his pre-existing nasal conditions and are at least as likely as not to represent the natural progression of his pre-existing conditions.
- Granted
The Board has determined that the Veteran's nasal septal perforation is as likely as not due to his in-service surgeries, and thus service connection for this condition is granted.
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