Body system: Digestive SystemRegulation: 38 CFR § 4.114
Chronic biliary tract disease affects your bile ducts - the tubes that carry bile from your liver to help digest food. When these ducts get inflamed or blocked, you get severe pain in your upper right abdomen along with nausea and vomiting. The VA rates this condition based on how many documented attacks you've had in the past year: 30% for three or more attacks or needing a procedure to open blocked ducts, 10% for one or two attacks, and 0% if you haven't had any recent attacks.
Rating levels
- 30% — To qualify for this rating, you must have had three or more documented episodes of severe pain in your upper right abdomen (where your liver and gallbladder are located) along with nausea and vomiting within the past year. Alternatively, you qualify if doctors had to stretch open narrowed bile ducts (the tubes that carry bile from your liver and gallbladder) at least once in the past 12 months using a medical procedure.
- 10% — You must have had one or two documented episodes of severe pain in your upper right abdomen (where your liver and gallbladder are located) along with nausea and vomiting within the past year. These attacks must be clinically documented, meaning a doctor or medical professional recorded them in your medical records during the episodes or shortly after.
- 0% — You have chronic biliary tract disease (problems with your bile ducts or gallbladder) but you're not experiencing any symptoms from it. You haven't had any episodes in the past 12 months where you had severe pain in the upper right part of your abdomen along with nausea and vomiting, which are the typical signs of a gallbladder or bile duct attack.