Army study focuses on brain injury treatment

[unhappycamper]

Army study focuses on brain injury treatment
By Lisa Burgess, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Saturday, January 19, 2008

ARLINGTON, Va. — The Army is working to improve the way it identifies and treats soldiers suffering from traumatic brain injury in combat, particularly those troops with mild concussions, officials said Thursday.

According to an Army task force study, concussions — which the military calls mild traumatic brain injury, or TBI — are among the most common injuries for troops engaged in combat.

Up to 20 percent of troops exposed to combat in Iraq and Afghanistan may have suffered a mild TBI at some point during their deployment, according to the study, which was completed last May but not made public until a news conference Thursday.

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The study, which was chartered by the Army’s Surgeon General in January 2007, found that the Army does a good job of treating troops suffering from severe head injuries, Brig. Gen. Donald Bradshaw, the task force’s chairman, said during the news conference.

But the task force found that the Army “is challenged to understand, diagnose and treat personnel who have suffered a mild TBI,” Bradshaw said.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=51750