Brain Injured Vets and Long-Term Risks

Brain Injured Vets and Long-Term Risks
December 04, 2008
Associated Press

WASHINGTON - Many of the thousands of troops who suffered traumatic brain injuries in Iraq and Afghanistan are at risk of long-term health problems including depression and Alzheimer's-like dementia, but it's impossible to predict how high those risks are, researchers say.

About 22 percent of wounded troops have a brain injury, concluded the prestigious Institute of Medicine - and it urged precise steps for studying how these patients fare years later so chances to help aren't missed.

The Veterans Affairs Department, which requested the report, and the Pentagon already are taking some of the recommended steps. But a report out Thursday highlights the urgency.

"I don't think we really knew how big a hole in scientific knowledge there is about blast-induced brain injuries," said Dr. George Rutherford of the University of California, San Francisco, the report's lead researcher.

Traumatic brain injury, or TBI, is a signature injury of the Iraq war. Most do not involve penetrating head wounds but damage hidden inside the skull caused by an explosion's pressure wave. It can range from a mild concussion to severe injury. And because symptoms may not be immediately apparent, troops may not seek care.


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