The Board has found that additional development is required to determine the nature and etiology of the Veteran's metastatic pancreatic cancer, which may be related to his obesity during service. The case is being remanded for an addendum VA medical opinion.
The deciding factor: Obesity is a significant risk factor for pancreatic cancer, but the examiner did not provide further findings regarding the relationship between the Veteran’s obesity and his pancreatic cancer.
- Claimed conditions
- obesity, pancreatic cancer
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 4, 2019
- Citation
- 19101042
What this means for you
A remand is not a loss. The Board sent the case back for more development — often a new exam or missing records — before making a final decision. Many remands later end in a grant, and the decision spells out exactly what the Board wanted to see.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for pancreatic cancer as there was no evidence of a nexus between the in-service toxic exposure and the current condition.
- Dismissed
The veteran withdrew his appeals for service connection for obesity, obstructive sleep apnea, and hypertension.
- Partly granted
The Board granted a restoration of the separate 10 percent rating for vertigo, an earlier effective date for service connection for vertigo and migraines, and a 30 percent rating for hypothyroidism with heart murmur. The decision also denied an earlier effective date for hypertension and remanded claims for obesity, obstructive sleep apnea, and individual unemployability.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for pancreatic cancer, finding that the evidence is in equipoise regarding whether the Veteran's condition was due to his in-service exposure to toxic and environmental hazards.
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