Body system: Cardiovascular SystemRegulation: 38 CFR § 4.104
Thrombo-angiitis obliterans, also called Buerger's Disease, is a rare condition where blood vessels in your hands and feet become inflamed and blocked, reducing blood flow. The VA rates this condition from 20% to 100% based on how severely it affects your circulation and causes symptoms like pain, coldness, numbness, and tissue damage. Higher ratings go to veterans with more severe symptoms like deep ulcers (open sores) and tissue death, while lower ratings cover cases with mainly reduced blood flow and pulse changes.
Rating levels
- 100% — You must have deep, non-healing sores and dying tissue in your fingers (where the tissue actually dies from lack of blood flow), along with your hand or arm feeling constantly cold. You also need to experience tissue changes and pain in your hand when you're physically active, plus weakened pulse that can be felt in your arm or wrist area.
- 60% — Your upper arm or hand stays cold all the time, you have tissue damage and changes to your skin (trophic changes), you experience pain in your hands when you're physically active, and the pulses in your upper arm are weaker than normal. These symptoms must be ongoing and persistent, not just occasional problems.
- 40% — To qualify for this rating level, you must have Buerger's Disease affecting your arms and hands with specific symptoms: skin and tissue changes (trophic changes) along with numbness and abnormal sensations like tingling or pins-and-needles (paresthesia) at your fingertips, plus weakened blood flow shown by reduced pulse strength in your arms. These symptoms indicate moderate impairment of blood circulation to your upper extremities due to the disease.
- 20% — The blood flow to your arms and hands is reduced, causing the pulses in your upper extremities (arms, wrists, and hands) to be weaker than normal when a doctor checks them. This happens because Buerger's Disease causes inflammation and blockages in the blood vessels of your arms, making it harder for blood to flow through properly.