Leukemia VA Rating

Leukemia is rated under 38 CFR § 4.117, the schedule for the hemic and lymphatic systems, at diagnostic code 7703. The rating logic is fundamentally different from the orthopedic codes most veterans encounter. There is no goniometer, no range-of-motion table, no question of which deficit is the most obvious. Active leukemia, or leukemia in a treatment phase, is rated at 100 percent. The exceptions are asymptomatic chronic lymphocytic leukemia at Rai Stage 0, which DC 7703 rates at 0 percent, and chronic myelogenous leukemia, which has its own code. The complication, and where claims go sideways, is what happens after the treatment phase ends.

That 100 percent does not run forever. The regulation requires a mandatory VA examination six months after treatment stops, and if the leukemia has not come back, the rating then shifts to the disease's residuals. Anemia, low platelets, immune compromise, chronic fatigue, the lingering effects of chemotherapy or a transplant, each gets rated under whatever code fits the residual. A veteran who finishes treatment and goes into remission can see the 100 percent rating drop, sometimes dramatically, if the residuals are mild. That drop is not arbitrary. It follows a defined reduction procedure, and that procedure is where a lot of the rating fight lives.

This page walks through the leukemia rating criteria and the two-phase structure, the six-month exam and the 38 CFR § 3.105(e) reduction process that has to precede any cut, how the residuals get rated once active disease resolves, the presumptive pathways for leukemia, and why VA denies leukemia claims. All chronic B-cell leukemias, including chronic lymphocytic leukemia, are Agent Orange presumptives. Leukemias other than chronic lymphocytic leukemia are radiation presumptives. Documenting the exposure is often the whole case.

TL;DR

• Leukemia is rated under 38 CFR § 4.117, DC 7703, on the hemic and lymphatic schedule.
• A 100 percent evaluation applies during active disease or any treatment phase, except asymptomatic Rai Stage 0 CLL, which is rated 0 percent. This is automatic while the disease is active or you are in treatment.
• Chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) is excluded from DC 7703 and rated under DC 7719, with 100, 60, and 30 percent levels tied to transplant, therapy, and remission status.
• Six months after treatment ends, a mandatory VA examination is scheduled, and if the leukemia has not come back, the condition is then rated on its residuals (anemia, low platelets, immune compromise, fatigue) under the appropriate codes.
• Any reduction from the 100 percent rating that would lower your payments must follow the § 3.105(e) procedure: a proposed reduction, 60 days to send evidence, the chance to request a predetermination hearing within 30 days, and a specified effective date. A cut made without that process does not follow the regulation.
• All chronic B-cell leukemias, including chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and hairy-cell leukemia, are Agent Orange presumptives under 38 CFR § 3.309(e).
• Leukemias other than CLL are radiation presumptives under 38 CFR § 3.309(d) for radiation-exposed veterans.
• Adult leukemia is presumptive for Camp Lejeune veterans under § 3.309(f), and acute and chronic leukemias are presumptive under § 3.320b for veterans with qualifying Gulf War or post-9/11 service. Leukemia is also on the § 3.309(a) chronic disease list, for leukemia that reached 10 percent within one year of discharge.
• The exposure record, Vietnam or other herbicide service, ionizing radiation, contaminated water, is usually the decisive piece of evidence.
• A ruling is one issue the Board decided in one decision; one decision often rules on several issues. Across 1,105 decided Board rulings on leukemia from 2021 to 2026, 39.3% were granted, 20.8% denied and 39.9% remanded. That grant rate is 14.6 points above the Board-wide 24.7%, though remand is still the most common outcome. Most leukemia service connection rulings involved a presumption, and those claims were granted at about the same rate as direct claims; the Board section below shows the breakdown.

Leukemia VA rating criteria (DC 7703)

The hemic and lymphatic schedule treats blood cancers differently from almost everything else in the rating schedule. Most diagnostic codes assign a percentage based on the current severity of a static impairment. Leukemia is rated on its phase. DC 7703 reads as follows.

Leukemia (except for chronic myelogenous leukemia): When there is active disease or during a treatment phase, 100 percent. Otherwise rate residuals under the appropriate diagnostic code(s). Chronic lymphocytic leukemia or monoclonal B-cell lymphocytosis (MBL), asymptomatic, Rai Stage 0, 0 percent.

That is the active-phase rule. While the leukemia is active, or while you are undergoing a course of treatment for it (chemotherapy, radiation, a bone marrow or stem cell transplant, targeted therapy, the maintenance phases that follow), the rating is 100 percent. The regulation does not ask how sick you look on the day of the exam. Active disease or active treatment is the trigger, and the trigger pays the maximum schedular rating.

Two exceptions matter. Asymptomatic CLL or MBL at Rai Stage 0 is rated 0 percent; symptomatic CLL at Rai Stage I, II, III, or IV is rated like any other leukemia under this code. And chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) is rated under DC 7719 instead: 100 percent when it requires a stem cell or bone marrow transplant or continuous myelosuppressive or immunosuppressive therapy, 60 percent for intermittent myelosuppressive therapy, tyrosine kinase inhibitor therapy, or interferon when not in apparent remission, and 30 percent when in apparent remission on continuous tyrosine kinase inhibitor therapy.

The second phase is the part that surprises people. Note (1) to DC 7703 sets it out.

A 100 percent evaluation shall continue beyond the cessation of any surgical therapy, radiation therapy, antineoplastic chemotherapy, or other therapeutic procedures. Six months after discontinuance of such treatment, the appropriate disability rating shall be determined by mandatory VA examination. Any change in evaluation based upon that or any subsequent examination shall be subject to the provisions of § 3.105(e) of this chapter. If there has been no recurrence, rate on residuals.

So the structure is 100 percent during active disease and treatment, then a mandatory exam six months after treatment stops, then a residual-based rating that could be anywhere from 100 percent down to zero depending on what the disease and its treatment left behind. Note (3) adds that residuals of leukemia or leukemia therapy are rated under the appropriate codes. This is not the limitation-of-motion logic you see in a knee or back claim, where the rating tracks a measured deficit on a sliding scale. It is a phase rating that converts to a residual rating at a defined hand-off point.

Leukemia rating reduction: the six-month exam and § 3.105(e)

The conversion from 100 percent to a residual rating does not happen quietly. Two protections sit in front of it.

First, the mandatory examination. Note (1) to DC 7703 sets a VA examination six months after treatment stops. The point of that exam is to document what residuals remain now that active disease and treatment have ended. If the exam is not done, or is done poorly, the factual basis for any reduction is missing. An examiner who writes "leukemia in remission" without quantifying the anemia, the platelet count, the infection history, the fatigue, and the functional impact has not produced an adequate basis for a residual rating.

Second, and this is the protection veterans can lose by not knowing it exists, any reduction from 100 percent that would lower the payments you are receiving must follow 38 CFR § 3.105(e). VA has to issue a rating proposing the reduction with the facts and reasons, give you 60 days to submit evidence, tell you that you can request a predetermination hearing within 30 days of the notice, and then make any reduction effective no earlier than the last day of the month in which a 60-day period from the notice of the final action expires. If you request the hearing in time, payments continue at the current level until the final decision. A reduction that skips the proposal step, or that takes effect earlier than that schedule allows, does not follow the regulation, and you can challenge it on that ground.

Most leukemia rulings at the Board are about service connection rather than the rating; the Board section below shows results by what the appeal asked for. For a veteran who is already service connected, though, the reduction is where the rating fight lives. A veteran who went into remission, got an exam, and saw the rating drop from 100 percent to 30 or 10 percent has two separate arguments: that the residuals actually warrant a higher rating than VA assigned, and that the reduction itself failed the § 3.105(e) procedure. The procedural argument does not depend on whether your health improved, because the regulation requires the process before any reduction that lowers your payments.

How VA rates leukemia residuals after treatment

Once active disease and treatment have ended, the leukemia stops being rated as leukemia and starts being rated as the sum of its residuals. Each residual is rated under the code that fits it. Typical residuals after leukemia treatment, and the codes they draw on, are these.

Anemia. Chemotherapy and the disease itself can suppress red-cell production. Current 38 CFR § 4.117 uses type-specific anemia codes rather than the DC 7700 hemoglobin ladder, which VA removed in December 2018. The diagnosis and cause determine whether treatment frequency, transfusions, disease episodes, or another current criterion controls. See the anemia page for the current code split. A veteran left with a qualifying treatment-related anemia may carry a separate residual evaluation after the leukemia phase converts.

Low platelets (thrombocytopenia). The hemic schedule's platelet code, DC 7705, is written for immune thrombocytopenia and rates on platelet count, treatment, and bleeding history. A lasting low platelet count from leukemia or its treatment is not listed by name, so it can be rated by analogy to a closely related code under 38 CFR § 4.20, which requires the functions affected, the anatomical location, and the symptoms to be closely analogous.

Immune compromise. Leukemia and its treatment, especially after a stem cell or bone marrow transplant, can leave a veteran with a lasting vulnerability to infection. Transplant recipients with prolonged immune suppression remain at risk of severe respiratory infections long after the transplant (Piñana, Clinical Infectious Diseases, 2025). Recurrent infections, the need for ongoing preventive medication, and the functional limits that come with an impaired immune system are rated under the codes that fit the specific picture.

Fatigue and constitutional effects. Chronic fatigue, weakness, and the systemic toll of treatment are real residuals, though they are often the hardest to capture in a rating because they do not show up as a single lab value. This is where the veteran's own documentation matters most.

The residual rating is a combined rating in the ordinary sense. If a veteran finishes treatment with rateable anemia, a rateable platelet problem, and a separately rateable secondary condition, those combine under 38 CFR § 4.25. The pyramiding rule under 38 CFR § 4.14 still applies, so the same symptom cannot be rated twice, but distinct residuals affecting different systems are separately rateable.

The practical risk is that the post-treatment exam captures the disease status ("in remission") and skips the residual inventory. A clean remission note with no quantification of hemoglobin, platelets, infection frequency, or functional capacity produces a low residual rating by default, because the rater has nothing to rate the residuals on.

Is leukemia presumptive for VA? Agent Orange, radiation, Camp Lejeune and PACT Act

Leukemia is one of the cancers where the cause-of-the-disease question is often resolved by regulation rather than by a nexus opinion. The two best-known presumptive routes map onto different exposures, and others cover Camp Lejeune, Gulf War and post-9/11 service, and leukemia that appears soon after discharge.

Agent Orange: all chronic B-cell leukemias, including CLL

38 CFR § 3.309(e) lists the diseases presumptively service-connected for veterans exposed to herbicides such as Agent Orange. The list includes "all chronic B-cell leukemias (including, but not limited to, hairy-cell leukemia and chronic lymphocytic leukemia)." Qualifying herbicide service under 38 USC § 1116 covers the Republic of Vietnam from January 9, 1962 to May 7, 1975 (including offshore service under § 1116A), Thailand bases through June 30, 1976, and set periods in Laos, Cambodia at Mimot or Krek, Guam, American Samoa, and Johnston Atoll. Service in or near the Korean DMZ from September 1, 1967 to August 31, 1971 qualifies under § 1116B. For a veteran with that service, a chronic B-cell leukemia is presumed connected to service without the need to prove a medical nexus.

What you have to prove for the herbicide presumptive is the exposure and the diagnosis, not the link between them. Service in a covered location and time period establishes the exposure. The diagnosis comes from the medical record. The connection is presumed.

Radiation-exposed veterans

38 CFR § 3.309(d) covers diseases presumptively connected for radiation-exposed veterans, those who participated in atmospheric nuclear testing, the occupation of Hiroshima or Nagasaki, or other recognized radiation-risk activities. Leukemia, other than CLL, is on the radiation-presumptive list. So these two presumptive routes are nearly complementary on the leukemia question: chronic B-cell leukemias, including CLL, go through the herbicide door, and leukemias other than CLL go through the radiation door. Hairy-cell leukemia fits both lists.

A veteran with documented radiation exposure outside those activities can use the case-by-case review in 38 CFR § 3.311, which lists all forms of leukemia except chronic lymphocytic leukemia as radiogenic diseases and allows leukemia to appear at any time after exposure. That review rests on a dose estimate rather than an automatic presumption.

Most leukemia service connection rulings at the Board involved a presumption, and those claims were granted at about the same rate as direct claims; the Board section below shows both. When a presumptive applies, the case turns on documenting the exposure rather than on the quality of a medical opinion, and exposure can frequently be established from service records, unit histories, and the recognized location-and-date lists.

Camp Lejeune

Adult leukemia is on the Camp Lejeune list at 38 CFR § 3.309(f). Under § 3.307(a)(7), a veteran with at least 30 days of service at Camp Lejeune, consecutive or not, between August 1, 1953 and December 31, 1987 is presumed exposed to the contaminated water.

Gulf War and post-9/11 service (§ 3.320b)

38 CFR § 3.320b makes acute and chronic leukemias presumptive for covered veterans: those assigned to a duty station on or after August 2, 1990 in the Southwest Asia theater of operations or Somalia, or on or after September 11, 2001 in Afghanistan, Djibouti, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, or Uzbekistan, including the airspace above those locations. VA added this regulation in January 2025 under the PACT Act's toxic exposure provisions. The PACT Act's own disease list in 38 USC § 1120 names lymphoma but not leukemia, so the regulation is what covers leukemia.

Leukemia within one year of discharge

Leukemia is also on the chronic disease list in 38 CFR § 3.309(a). Under § 3.307(a), a veteran with 90 days or more of wartime service or service after December 31, 1946 whose leukemia reached 10 percent or more within one year of separation is presumed service connected. Because active leukemia rates 100 percent, the question in these claims is usually when the disease first showed up.

When no presumptive applies

A veteran whose leukemia and service fit none of these presumptions falls back to direct service connection. That route needs a current diagnosis, an in-service event or exposure, and a medical nexus linking the two. Contaminated water exposure at other installations can support a direct claim where the documented exposure and the diagnosis line up. The nexus opinion in a direct-connection leukemia claim has to do the same work any nexus opinion does: identify the mechanism, address the time course, and rule out other causes with sound reasoning rather than a bare conclusion.

The leukemia C&P exam

The leukemia C&P exam does different work depending on which phase the veteran is in, and that distinction is where a lot of inadequate exams come from.

During active disease or treatment, the exam mostly needs to confirm the phase. Active leukemia or an ongoing course of treatment supports the 100 percent rating, so the examiner should document the diagnosis, the current treatment regimen, and the treatment timeline. The error here is an examiner who tries to rate severity during an active phase rather than recognizing that active disease or treatment is itself the 100 percent trigger.

At the post-treatment exam, the work flips. Now the examiner has to inventory the residuals: current hemoglobin and the anemia picture, platelet count and any bleeding history, infection frequency and immune status, fatigue and functional capacity, and any organ damage or secondary conditions from the treatment. A post-treatment exam that says "remission, no active disease" and stops has not produced the residual documentation the rating depends on.

The Board data fits this. Remand is the most common outcome on leukemia, at 39.9% of decided rulings, and when the Board sends a leukemia claim back, the most common reason is an inadequate VA exam or opinion, followed by records VA still had to get. The Board section below shows how often each remand reason came up.

Conditions secondary to leukemia and its treatment

Under 38 CFR § 3.310, a condition caused by a service-connected disability is itself service connected, and under § 3.310(b) so is any increase in severity of another condition that a service-connected disability caused. Leukemia and the treatment for it open several downstream chains.

Treatment-induced organ damage. Anthracycline chemotherapy, used in leukemia treatment, can damage the heart in a dose-dependent way and lead to heart failure (Yeh, Transactions of the American Clinical and Climatological Association, 2025). Cardiomyopathy or other organ damage can be claimed as a secondary condition when the medical record connects it to the cancer treatment.

Secondary cancers. Chemotherapy or radiation for one cancer raises the risk of a later therapy-related myelodysplastic syndrome or acute myeloid leukemia (Venugopal, Seminars in Hematology, 2024). A second cancer that the medical evidence ties to the prior treatment can be claimed as a secondary.

Immune-related and infectious conditions. Lasting immune compromise after treatment, particularly post-transplant, can produce chronic or recurrent infections that are themselves rateable.

Mental health secondaries. Depression, anxiety, and adjustment disorders are common in people treated for cancer, including in hematology settings (Mitchell, Lancet Oncology, 2011). Depression and other mental health conditions are well-recognized secondaries when a clinician connects them to the underlying service-connected disease.

The standard for each chain is the same as in any secondary claim. A nexus opinion has to explain the mechanism and reasoning. "The veteran's heart condition is due to leukemia" without the pathway is not probative. An opinion that walks through the cardiotoxic chemotherapy agent, the documented cardiac decline after treatment, and the absence of a competing cause carries weight. For aggravation, the opinion should say whether the condition was aggravated by the veteran's service-connected leukemia, meaning it would be less severe but for the leukemia. An opinion that says only "not caused by" and skips aggravation is inadequate (El-Amin v. Shinseki, 26 Vet. App. 136 (2013)).

Why VA denies leukemia claims

Leukemia claims do better at the Board than most. Across 1,105 decided Board rulings on leukemia from 2021 to 2026, 39.3% were granted, 20.8% denied and 39.9% remanded. That grant rate is 14.6 points above the Board-wide 24.7 percent.

When the Board denied leukemia service connection, it most often found no link between the leukemia and service, and next most often no in-service event, injury, or exposure; a missing diagnosis was the least common of the three. The patterns behind those findings repeat.

Exposure not documented for the presumptive. A veteran with CLL who served in Vietnam, or a veteran with another leukemia who participated in a radiation-risk activity, has a presumptive path, but only if the exposure is in the record. Vague service descriptions, missing unit assignments, and undocumented dates can sink a claim that the regulation would otherwise grant. Service personnel records, unit histories, and the recognized location-and-date lists are what close this gap.

A leukemia type outside the presumption. Acute myeloid leukemia is not a chronic B-cell leukemia, so it does not fit the Agent Orange list. A claim built on the wrong presumption fails even when another route, such as radiation, Camp Lejeune, § 3.320b, or a direct opinion, would fit.

No medical link for a direct claim. When no presumption applies, a bare "as likely as not" opinion that does not explain the exposure, the timing, and other causes carries little weight.

Post-treatment exam that skips the residuals. When the exam six months after treatment records remission status without quantifying anemia, platelets, infection history, and fatigue, the residual rating defaults low. The rater can only rate what the exam documents.

Reductions that ignore § 3.105(e). A 100 percent rating cut to a residual rating without the proposed-reduction notice, the 60-day window, and the correct effective-date sequence does not follow the regulation. Veterans who do not know the process exists may accept a reduction they could have challenged on procedure alone.

Fatigue and functional loss left undocumented. The constitutional residuals of leukemia and its treatment, fatigue, weakness, reduced stamina, are real but hard to capture in a lab value. Without the veteran's own documentation, a symptom journal, work-absence records, statements from family or coworkers, the examiner has a thin factual basis and the rating reflects only the measurable residuals.

Treating active-phase severity instead of the phase rule. Some claims get tangled because an examiner or rater tries to assign a severity-based percentage during an active phase, when the regulation already provides 100 percent for active disease or treatment. Recognizing the phase rule avoids an under-rating during the period the law treats as total.

When the Board sends a leukemia claim back instead of deciding it, the most common reason is an inadequate VA exam or opinion. Among leukemia rulings the Board granted or denied, those with a private medical opinion in the record were granted more often than leukemia rulings overall; that is an association, not proof the opinion caused the grant. The Board section below shows how often each denial and remand reason came up and what the Board did with medical opinions.

Questions veterans ask about leukemia

Is leukemia presumptive for Agent Orange?

Chronic B-cell leukemias are. 38 CFR § 3.309(e) lists all chronic B-cell leukemias, including chronic lymphocytic leukemia and hairy-cell leukemia, so a veteran with qualifying herbicide service does not need a medical opinion linking that leukemia to service. Other types, such as acute myeloid leukemia, are not on the Agent Orange list and need another route.

Is leukemia covered by the PACT Act?

For Gulf War and post-9/11 veterans, yes, through a regulation. 38 CFR § 3.320b, added in January 2025, presumes acute and chronic leukemias are service connected for veterans assigned to a duty station in the Southwest Asia theater of operations or Somalia on or after August 2, 1990, or in Afghanistan, Djibouti, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, or Uzbekistan on or after September 11, 2001. The PACT Act's own list in 38 USC § 1120 does not name leukemia.

Is leukemia presumptive for Camp Lejeune?

Yes. Adult leukemia is on the Camp Lejeune list in 38 CFR § 3.309(f). You need at least 30 days of service at Camp Lejeune, consecutive or not, between August 1, 1953 and December 31, 1987.

What happens to a 100 percent leukemia rating after treatment?

The 100 percent continues after treatment ends. Six months later, VA must examine you, and if the leukemia has not come back, it rates the residuals instead. Any reduction that lowers your payments has to follow 38 CFR § 3.105(e), with a written proposal and 60 days to send evidence.

What is the VA rating for CLL?

Symptomatic CLL at Rai Stage I to IV is rated like any other leukemia under DC 7703, at 100 percent during active disease or treatment. Asymptomatic CLL at Rai Stage 0 is rated 0 percent, and a 0 percent rating still means the CLL is service connected. CLL is an Agent Orange presumptive under 38 CFR § 3.309(e).

Bottom Line

Leukemia is not rated on a severity scale the way a joint condition is. It is rated on its phase. Under DC 7703, active disease or an active treatment phase pays 100 percent, automatically, regardless of how the veteran presents on exam day; asymptomatic Rai Stage 0 CLL is the exception, and CML has its own code. The hard part comes after, when the treatment phase ends, a mandatory exam is scheduled six months later, and the rating converts to whatever the residuals support. When that conversion lowers your payments, it has to follow the § 3.105(e) reduction procedure, and a cut that skips the process can be challenged on that ground. On the front end, the presumptive pathways often decide the case before any nexus question is reached: chronic B-cell leukemias, including CLL, through the Agent Orange door, leukemias other than CLL through the radiation door, adult leukemia through the Camp Lejeune list, acute and chronic leukemias through § 3.320b for qualifying Gulf War and post-9/11 service, leukemia within a year of discharge through the chronic disease list, and direct connection behind them. The veterans who do best document the exposure thoroughly, insist on a post-treatment exam that actually inventories the residuals, and hold VA to the reduction procedure when the 100 percent rating is on the table. Same diagnosis, different paper trail, different outcome.

Related Conditions

Leukemia shares rating logic and presumptive structure with the other cancers on the system, including lymphoma, which is also rated on the hemic and lymphatic schedule with a similar active-versus-residual phase rule. The Agent Orange presumptive that covers CLL also reaches prostate cancer and lung cancer, and colon cancer sits in the same exposure-driven oncology group where documenting the in-service exposure is frequently the whole case. Veterans dealing with treatment residuals and the post-treatment reduction should review the secondary conditions tool before assuming the residual rating tells the whole story.

Methodology and Limitations

• Data source: Rating criteria quoted and paraphrased from 38 CFR § 4.117, DC 7703 (leukemia), DC 7705 (immune thrombocytopenia), and DC 7719 (chronic myelogenous leukemia), current eCFR text checked 2026-10-06; removal of DC 7700 from the 2018 hemic and lymphatic final rule (83 FR 54250). Analogous ratings from § 4.20. Reduction procedure from § 3.105(e) and (i). Combined ratings math from § 4.25. Pyramiding from § 4.14. Secondary service connection from § 3.310, with aggravation wording from M21-1 and El-Amin v. Shinseki, 26 Vet. App. 136 (2013). Presumptive pathways from § 3.309(a) and § 3.307(a) (chronic diseases), § 3.309(e) and 38 USC §§ 1116, 1116A and 1116B (herbicide, including all chronic B-cell leukemias), § 3.309(d) and § 3.311 (ionizing radiation), § 3.309(f) and § 3.307(a)(7) (Camp Lejeune), § 3.320b and § 3.320a(c) (Gulf War and post-9/11 service), and 38 USC § 1120.
• Medical sources: Piñana, "Community-Acquired Respiratory Virus Infections: A Threat to Long-Term Survivors After Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplant?", Clinical Infectious Diseases (2025); Yeh, "Anthracycline-Induced Cardiotoxicity: Mechanism and Prevention," Transactions of the American Clinical and Climatological Association (2025); Johnson, "A systematic review of long-term cardiotoxic effects of treatment in survivors of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia," Molecular and Cellular Pediatrics (2025); Venugopal, "Therapy-related myelodysplastic syndromes and acute myeloid leukemia," Seminars in Hematology (2024); Mitchell, "Prevalence of depression, anxiety, and adjustment disorder in oncological, haematological, and palliative-care settings," Lancet Oncology (2011).
• Board snapshot: Across 1,105 decided Board rulings on leukemia from 2021 to 2026, 39.3% were granted (including partial grants and mixed outcomes), 20.8% denied and 39.9% remanded. Dismissed, withdrawn and moot rulings are excluded. These are appealed claims, not your personal odds.
• Sample size: Board figures in this post come from Claim Raven's read of every Board decision from 2021 to 2026 that it holds: 511,036 decisions containing 1,378,030 rulings. Of 1,218 Board rulings on leukemia, 1,105 were decided (granted, denied or remanded); the rest were dismissed, withdrawn or closed another way. Breakdowns by claim theory, appeal type, medical opinion, and denial and remand reasons appear in the Board section below, computed from the same data. The read records that a presumption was raised, not which one, so I cannot read the CLL-versus-other-leukemia split or the herbicide-versus-radiation split directly from it.
• Classification approach: Diagnostic code and phase definitions drawn from the regulatory text. Presumptive analysis follows the § 3.309, § 3.311 and § 3.320b lists. Reduction analysis follows § 3.105(e). Residual rating analysis follows the hemic and lymphatic schedule.
• Limitations:
• Compensation figures and tiers are governed by the current 38 CFR § 4.117 text and adjust with regulatory amendments and annual COLA.
• The presumptive lists have expanded over time, including after the PACT Act. Coverage of specific locations, dates, and leukemia subtypes can change, and a claim should be checked against the current lists.
• The two-phase structure means the rating during an active phase and the residual rating after treatment are governed by different rules. Worked descriptions illustrate the structure, not a guaranteed numeric outcome.
• Selection bias: BVA-level patterns reflect cases that appealed. Most leukemia claims resolve at the RO level and are not in any BVA dataset. Presumptive grants in particular often never reach the Board.
• The remand share reflects appealed cases only.
• These observations reflect patterns from the regulatory text, the presumptive lists, and BVA decisions. They are not predictions of individual outcomes.