Despite loca! treatment, including X-rays and ultraviolet light therapy,
results were inconclusive and he was surveyed initially to limited duty

and later from service because of the chronicity of the disorder andits

relative recalcitrance to treatment.

It has been medically determined that the radiation therapy during
service was consistent with the standards of treatment at the time and
there was no apparent negligence or lack of professional skill involved.

Aggravation by reason of the treatment effects per se is not
demonstrated. However, it is the determination of the Board that the

evidence is such as to present sufficient latitude for finding that there
was an increase in the basic skin disorder incidental to the veteran’s
service apart from the treatment effects. It follows that any residuals as
the result of treatment may not properly be separated from the
disability. It is the determination of the Board that there was an increase
in the basic disorder attributable to the veteran’s service and that any
residuals caused by treatment of the disorder are a component of the

residual disability.

CASE NO. 16
Type of Injury: Metastatic Bronchogenic Carcinoma.
BVA’s Decision: Denial Affirmed.
Date of Decision: 1971.
Appellant's Allegation: That carcinoma of the brain and carcinoma metastatic

of the lungs resulted from his exposure to radiation during service in August
1945 after the bombing of Nagasaki.

Facts: The veteran served from June 1939 to June 1959. Service medical
records show that in September 1958 full mouth X-rays during dental
examination showed a cystic-type lesion, midline of maxilla. There was no
evidence of a neoplasm. The diagnosis was nasopalatine duct cyst, maxilla.

Service records are negative for any evidence of malignancy. Numerous

examinations during service, including chest X-rays, disclosed an abnormality
of the respiratory system.
The veteran died on May 16, 1969. The certificate of death on file shows

the cause of death was metastatic brain tumor due to bronchogenic carcinoma.
At the time of the veteran’s death, service connection was not in effect for any
disability.
Evidence indicated that during service, in August 1945, after the bombing
of Nagasaki, the veteran spent a night going through the posted “‘hot”’ area due
to the error of a boat coxswain in landing them on the wrong side of the bay;
that he remained in the area for another three months; that he attended atomic
tests at Camp Desert Rock, Indian Springs, Nevada, in 1951, for approximately
one week.
Medical Evidence: Included in the evidence of record are clinical records of

terminal hospitalization at Madigan General Hospital in May 1969. These
records show that the veteran was admitted because of headaches, agitation,
and paralysis of the left side. 1t was reported that he had been previously
hospitalized from September to November 1968, after an abnormal chest X-ray

in August 1968, showing a 3.5-centimeter, well-defined mass in the apical
portion of the right lung, adjacent to the mediastinum. It was noted that a

chest X-ray two years previously had been negative. After initial evaluation for

possible infectious etiology for the right upper lobe mass, he underwenta right
upper lobectomy in October 1968, revealing a primary tumor of the lung of
bronchiolar epithelium.
,
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