The Board remands the matter for a VA medical opinion to determine the likely etiology of the Veteran's nasopharyngeal cancer, including whether it is related to his service or exposure to herbicide agents.
The deciding factor: The need for an examination arises due to the lack of a definitive opinion on the etiology of the Veteran's nasopharyngeal cancer and its potential relation to toxic exposures during service.
- Claimed conditions
- nasopharyngeal cancer
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- Agent Orange / herbicides
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 17, 2025
- Citation
- A25099526
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 910 · Granted: 31% (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 A25099526.
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.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for nasopharyngeal cancer, finding that the Veteran's condition is related to his in-service exposure to herbicide agents.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for nasopharyngeal cancer, finding that the evidence is at least evenly balanced as to whether it is related to military service, specifically herbicide exposure.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for diabetes mellitus, type II, right and left lower extremity diabetic neuropathy, degenerative disc disease with osteoporosis ('back disability'), and remanded the claim of service connection for nasopharyngeal cancer as due to exposure toxins for the period prior to August 10, 2022.
- Granted
The Veteran's claim for direct service connection for nasopharyngeal cancer, including an earlier effective date, is granted. The effective date of the grant of service connection is set at November 28, 2020.
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