August
8, 2008: The U.S. Department of Defense is spending over $300
million this year to find better ways to detect and treat PTSD
(post-traumatic stress disorder) and TBI (traumatic brain injury). It
appears that at least six percent of American Iraq and Afghanistan
combat veterans have suffered TBI (traumatic brain injury), to the
extent that they may have long term problems. As many as a third may
suffer from the, even more difficult to detect, PTSD.
Mild,
and normally undetectable, cases of TBI are believed to be quite
common for combat veterans. Mild TBI is also known as a concussion,
and is more common because more troops are being exposed to roadside
bombs. Most of these explosions do not cause any obvious injuries to
troops, even though their vehicles may be damaged. Mild TBI has long
been an area of research in sports medicine. Veterans hospitals have
many cases of World War II, Korea and Vietnam vets eventually
developing other problems because of long ago combat actions that
left them with mild TBI. Any kind of explosion can cause mild TBI,
and over a third of troops in combat get mild TBI. For most of them,
there are no long term consequences.
But
as with football or hockey players who have been knocked on the head
one time too many, there is sometimes long term damage. Until the
1980s, there was no hard evidence that mild TBI had long term
consequences. But research identified and verified that there were
long term effects in some victims. Before that, all that was known
about the problem were the many anecdotal stories about people "not
being the same" after getting a concussion.
Changes
over time can indicate the onset of long term problems with mild TBI.
Troops departing for a combat zone, and returning, are now being
tested. Knowing that a solider has mild TBI makes it possible to
quickly treat any side effects, or conditions that will get worse
over time. The long term effects include damage to hearing, eyesight,
sense of smell and changes in personality. Improved diagnostic
instruments and techniques are constantly being developed, and
perfected with use in civilian hospitals. Thus the seeming explosion
in TBI cases is only partially due to the widespread use of roadside
bombs. A lot of it is just being able to detect injuries that have
always been there as a result of combat, and were largely
undetectable in the past.
Often,
it's difficult to separate the effects of TBI and PTSD. In the past,
many cases that were believed to largely be PTSD, were mainly the
long term effects of TBI. The Pentagon is funding nearly 200
different studies this year, into how to better detect and treat
these two combat related ailments. The government sees an enormous
benefit to the civilian population, where there are believed to be
millions of cases of TBI and PTSD from non-combat causes (accidents,
natural disaster, crime).
