The Board has granted service connection for cauda equina, finding it secondary to the appellant's service-connected back disability. The rating and reduction issues related to lower extremity radiculopathy are remanded.
The deciding factor: Cauda equina was found to be caused by the service-connected lumbar spine degenerative disc disease with intervertebral disc syndrome and spinal stenosis, which is a direct service connection.
- Claimed conditions
- cauda equina, lumbar spine degenerative disc disease with intervertebral disc syndrome and spinal stenosis
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- March 12, 2026
- Citation
- A26022509
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 A26022509.
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.
- Dismissed
The Veteran withdrew his appeal for all claims, and the Board has no jurisdiction to review the appeal.
- Granted
The Veteran's back disability is granted a 40% rating from December 21, 2015 to January 16, 2019. The right and left lower extremity radiculopathies are each rated at 20%. The right and left ankle disabilities remain at 10%.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's appeal is being remanded for further development, including new examinations to assess the functional impairment resulting from his service-connected cervical and lumbar spine disabilities.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claims for increased ratings for his service-connected lumbar myositis, psychoneurosis and conversion hysteria, residuals of shrapnel wounds of the left thigh and pelvis with retained foreign bodies and scars, and residuals of shell fragment wounds of the right thigh and left leg. The veteran was also denied entitlement to a total disability rating based on individual unemployability due to service-connected disabilities.
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