Statement of Principles concerning malignant neoplasm of the eye No. 65 of 1999

Instrument No.65 of 1999

Determination

of

Statement of Principles

concerning

MALIGNANT NEOPLASM OF THE EYE

ICD-10-AM CODE: C69.0-C69.4, C69.8

Veterans’ Entitlements Act 1986

1. This Statement of Principles is determined by the Repatriation Medical Authority under subsection 196B(3) of the Veterans’ Entitlements Act 1986 (the Act).

Kind of injury, disease or death

2. (a) This Statement of Principles is about malignant neoplasm of the eye and death from malignant neoplasm of the eye.

(b) For the purposes of this Statement of Principles,

“malignant neoplasm of the eye” means a primary malignant neoplasm of the cells of the eye, attracting an ICD-10-AM code in the range C69.0 to C69.4, or C69.8, but excluding soft tissue sarcoma, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and Hodgkin’s disease of or affecting the eye. The eye means the conjunctiva, cornea, retina, uveal tract (choroid, ciliary body and iris) and eye ball, but excludes lacrimal gland and duct, orbit,  optic nerve and the skin and connective tissue of the eyelid.

Basis for determining the factors

3.                  On the sound medical-scientific evidence available, the Repatriation Medical Authority is of the view that it is more probable than not that malignant neoplasm of the eye and death from malignant neoplasm of the eye can be related to relevant service rendered by veterans or members of the Forces.

Factors that must be related to service

4. Subject to clause 6, at least one of the factors set out in clause 5 must be related to any relevant service rendered by the person.

Factors

5. The factors that must exist before it can be said that, on the balance of probabilities, malignant neoplasm of the eye or death from malignant neoplasm of the eye is connected with the circumstances of a person’s relevant service are:

(a) having a solar UV damage factor ratio of at least 1.2 before the clinical onset of malignant neoplasm of the eye; or

(b)            being infected with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) before the clinical onset of malignant neoplasm of the eye; or

(c) inability to obtain appropriate clinical management for malignant neoplasm of the eye.

Factors that apply only to material contribution or aggravation

6. Paragraph 5(c) applies only to material contribution to, or aggravation of, malignant neoplasm of the eye where the person’s malignant neoplasm of the eye was suffered or contracted before or during (but not arising out of) the person’s relevant service; paragraph 8(1)(e), 9(1)(e) or 70(5)(d) of the Act refers.

Inclusion of Statements of Principles

7. In this Statement of Principles if a relevant factor applies and that factor includes an injury or disease in respect of which there is a Statement of Principles then the factors in that last mentioned Statement of Principles apply in accordance with the terms of that Statement of Principles.

Other definitions

8. For the purposes of this Statement of Principles:

“being infected with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)” means serological evidence of infection with Human Immunodeficiency Virus;

“death from malignant neoplasm of the eye” in relation to a person includes death from a terminal event or condition that was contributed to by the person’s malignant neoplasm of the eye;

“ICD-10-AM code” means a number assigned to a particular kind of injury or disease in The International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, 10th revision, Australian Modification (ICD-10-AM), effective date of 1 July 1998, copyrighted by the National Centre for Classification in Health, Sydney, NSW, and having ISBN 1 86451 340 3;

“relevant service” means:

(a) eligible war service (other than operational service); or

(b) defence service (other than hazardous service);

“solar UV damage factor ratio” means the value obtained by applying the solar UV damage factor ratio formula which is:

where:

“total lifetime UV damage factor” means the numerical value calculated by the formula:

 T

 [MED cum (a,T)] -1  .  PAE (n,M,a) at age (T-t)  . t-

 t-0

for the person’s entire life, and where:

“” has the value of five and is a numerical constant associated with the age dependence of the cumulative incidence;

“” has the value of two and is a biological amplification factor;

“a” is an anatomical body site;

“M” is a specified month of the year;

“MED” means minimal erythemal dose, where one MED is equal to 200 Joules of radiation per square metre of skin;

“[MED cum (a,T)]” is the cumulative solar UV dose to the skin for any given anatomical body site for the person’s age at the time of the assessment;

“n” has the value specified in column 2 of Table 1 opposite the item in column 1 of that Table for each of the specified life activities set out in column 1:

Table 1—specified life activities

“PAE” means personal ambient exposure in MEDs, calculated for each and every month of a person’s life based on an estimate of a typical month during each of the five year periods between the ages of 0 and 20 years and each of the ten year periods thereafter;

“PAE (n,M,a)”means the number calculated by the formula:

n-8

 MAE (M,Ln) . ABFa . EFn . TRFn . ESFn . CPFn . ERFn . Wn

n-1

where:

“ABFa”  is the anatomical body factor, and has the value specified in column 2 of Table 2 opposite the item in column 1 of that Table for each of the various body sites set out in column 1:

Table 2—body site

“CPFn”  is the clothing protection factor, and has the value assigned to a particular anatomical site proportionately according to the amount of protection provided by clothing and sun screen, ranging from a value of 1.00 for no protection to a value of 0.05 for full cover with heavy clothing for a given specified life activity in column 1 of Table 1;

“EFn” is the exposure factor, and has the value specified in column 2 of Table 3 opposite the item in column 1 of that Table for different exposure situations set out in column 1:

Table 3—exposure situations

“ERFn” is the environment reflectance factor, and has the value specified in column 2 of Table 4 opposite the item in column 1 of that Table for the different environment types set out in column 1:

Table 4—environment types

where:

“Urban” means a location that is either a city or a town;

“Rural” means a location that is bushland, pastoral, or agricultural setting;

“Maritime” means either on the sea, lake, major river, or directly adjacent to such a body of water;

“ESFn”  is the environment shade factor, and has the value specified in column 2 of Table 5 opposite the item in column 1 of that Table for the different environment shade types set out in column 1:

Table 5—environment shade types

where:

“Dense shade” means a location that is predominantly under dense shade, such as jungle or dense forest;

“Moderate shade” means a location that is predominantly under moderate shade, such as open forest or high density housing;

“Light shade” means a location that is predominantly under light shade, such as lightly timbered country or low density housing;

“No shade”  means a location that is predominantly without shade, such as open fields, tundra, beach, or ocean;

“MAE(M,Ln)” is the average daily ambient exposure for month, M, in location, L, assuming a long term average cloud cover, being the value, obtained from the Table set out in Schedule 1, that is contained in the row that corresponds to the particular latitude (rounded to the nearest five degrees) and is contained in the column that corresponds to the month of the year that is the particular month under consideration, for each specified life activity;

“TRFn”  is the terrain reflectance factor, and has the value specified in column 2 of Table 6 opposite the item in column 1 of that Table for the different terrain types set out in column 1:

Table 6—terrain types

where:

“Black”  means a terrain predominantly of black material such as asphalt;

“Brown” means a terrain predominantly of bare soil, clay, or buildings;

“Green” means a terrain predominantly of green vegetation;

“Open Water” means an environment surrounded by water;

“Sand” means a terrain predominantly of light material such as white or yellow sand;

“Snow” means a terrain that is predominantly covered in snow;

“Wn ” is an estimate of the number of days in a month in which a specified life activity in column 1 of Table 1 is performed, and where, for the purposes of this definition, every month is taken to have 30.4375 days;

“t” is the age in months of the person for the particular specified activity;

“T” is the age in months of the person at the time of assessment;

and,

“non-service UV damage factor” means the numerical value calculated by the formula:

 T

 [MED cum (a,T)] -1  .  PAE (n,M,a) at age (T-t)  . t-

 t-0

for the person’s entire life, with the PAE for each month of the person’s period or periods of relevant service being the arithmetic mean of the PAE for each and every month of the person’s life, other than the period or periods of relevant service, where:

“” has the value of five and is a numerical constant associated with the age dependence of the cumulative incidence;

“” has the value of two and is a biological amplification factor;

“a” is an anatomical body site;

“M” is a specified month of the year;

“MED” means minimal erythemal dose, where one MED is equal to 200 Joules of radiation per square metre of skin;

“[MED cum (a,T)]” means the cumulative solar UV dose to the skin for any given anatomical body site for the person’s age at the time of the assessment;

“n” has the value specified in column 2 of Table 7 opposite the item in column 1 of that Table for each of the specified life activities set out in column 1:

Table 7—specified life activities

“PAE” means personal ambient exposure in MEDs, calculated for each and every month of a person’s life based on an estimate of a typical month during each of the five year periods between the ages of 0 and 20 years and each of the ten year periods thereafter;

“PAE (n,M,a)” is the numerical value calculated by the formula:

n-8

 MAE (M,Ln) . ABFa . EFn . TRFn . ESFn . CPFn . ERFn . Wn

n-1

where:

“ABFa”  is the anatomical body factor, and has the value specified in column 2 of Table 8 opposite the item in column 1 of that Table for each of the various body sites set out in column 1:

Table 8—body site

“CPFn”  is the clothing protection factor, and has the value assigned to a particular anatomical site proportionately according to the amount of protection provided by clothing and sun screen, ranging from a value of 1.00 for no protection to a value of 0.05 for full cover with heavy clothing for a given specified life activity in column 1 of Table 7;

“EFn” is the exposure factor, and has the value specified in column 2 of Table 9 opposite the item in column 1 of that Table for different exposure situations set out in column 1:

Table 9—exposure situations

“ERFn” is the environment reflectance factor, and has the value specified in column 2 of Table 10 opposite the item in column 1 of that Table for the different environment types set out in column 1:

Table 10—environment types

where;

“Urban” means a location that is either a city or a town;

“Rural” means a location that is bushland, pastoral, or agricultural setting;

“Maritime” means either on the sea, lake, major river, or directly adjacent to such a body of water;

“ESFn”  is the environment shade factor, and has the value specified in column 2 of Table 11 opposite the item in column 1 of that Table for the different environment shade types set out in column 1:

Table 11—environment shade types

where:

“Dense shade” means a location that is predominantly under dense shade, such as jungle or dense forest;

“Moderate shade” means a location that is predominantly under moderate shade, such as open forest or high density housing;

“Light shade” means a location that is predominantly under light shade, such as lightly timbered country or low density housing;

“No shade”  means a location that is predominantly without shade, such as open fields, tundra, beach, or ocean;

“MAE(M,Ln)” is the average daily ambient exposure for month, M, in location, L, assuming a long term average cloud cover, being the value, obtained from the Table set out in Schedule 1, that is contained in the row that corresponds to the particular latitude (rounded to the nearest five degrees) and is contained in the column that corresponds to the month of the year that is the particular month under consideration, for each specified life activity;

“TRFn”  is the terrain reflectance factor, and has the value specified in column 2 of Table 12 opposite the item in column 1 of that Table for the different terrain types set out in column 1:

Table 12—terrain types

where:

“Black”  means a terrain predominantly of black material such as asphalt;

“Brown” means a terrain predominantly of bare soil, clay, or buildings;

“Green” means a terrain predominantly of green vegetation;

“Open Water” means an environment surrounded by water;

“Sand” means a terrain predominantly of light material such as white or yellow sand;

“Snow” means a terrain that is predominantly covered in snow;

“Wn” is an estimate of the number of days in a month in which a specified life activity in column 1 of Table 7 is performed, and where, for the purposes of this definition, every month is taken to have 30.4375 days;

“t” is the age in months of the person for the particular specified activity;

“T” is the age in months of the person at the time of assessment;

“terminal event” means the proximate or ultimate cause of death and includes:

a) pneumonia;

b) respiratory failure;

c) cardiac arrest;

d) circulatory failure; or

e)                  cessation of brain function.

Application

9. This Instrument applies to all matters to which section 120B of the Act applies.

Schedule 1

Average daily MED calculated for the given month and latitude

Data assumes long-term average cloud cover

Dated this Twenty-eighth day of October 1999

The Common Seal of the    )

Repatriation Medical Authority   )

was affixed to this instrument  )

in the presence of    )

KEN DONALD

CHAIRMAN