The Veteran's Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumor (GIST) is presumed to be etiologically related to his conceded in-service herbicide exposure. The Board finds that service connection for GIST, on a presumptive basis as due to herbicide exposure, is warranted. Service connection for the liver condition, including bile duct adenoma, secondary to service-connected GIST, is remanded.
The deciding factor: The Veteran's Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumor (GIST) was presumed to be related to his conceded in-service herbicide exposure.
- Claimed conditions
- Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumor (GIST), Bile duct adenoma
- How they argued it
- Presumptive (no nexus needed)
- Exposure basis
- Burn pits / airborne hazards
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 16, 2024
- Citation
- 24002357
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,820 · Granted: 26% (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 24002357.
What this means for you
A grant means the Board agreed the veteran was entitled to the benefit. Decisions like this show the kind of evidence and arguments that tend to succeed for claims like it.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case due to a lack of an opinion regarding whether the Veteran's GIST is aggravated by her service-connected disabilities. The VA needs to obtain additional medical opinions on this issue.
- Granted
The Veteran's GIST and RCC are found to be secondary to his service-connected post-operative orchiectomy, left testicle, status post stage 1 seminoma due to radiation therapy. The Board granted the claims based on the evidence being in equipoise.
- Granted
The Board has determined that the Veteran's Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumor (GIST) is related to his service-connected exposure to Agent Orange, and thus grants service connection for this condition.
- Denied
The Veteran's service connection claim for a stomach growth including GIST was denied as there is no current diagnosis of the condition.
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