20,000 brain injuries not on Pentagon list.

[SirNitram]

Link

At least 20,000 U.S. troops who were not classified as wounded during combat in Iraq and Afghanistan have been found with signs of brain injuries, according to military and veterans records compiled by USA TODAY.

The data, provided by the Army, Navy and Department of Veterans Affairs, show that about five times as many troops sustained brain trauma as the 4,471 officially listed by the Pentagon through Sept. 30. These cases also are not reflected in the Pentagon's official tally of wounded, which stands at 30,327.

The number of brain-injury cases were tabulated from records kept by the VA and four military bases that house units that have served multiple combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.

One base released its count of brain injuries at a medical conference. The others provided their records at the request of USA TODAY, in some cases only after a Freedom of Information Act filing was submitted.

The data came from:

•Landstuhl Army Regional Medical Center in Germany, where troops evacuated from Iraq and Afghanistan for injury, illness or wounds are brought before going home. Since May 2006, more than 2,300 soldiers screened positive for brain injury, hospital spokeswoman Marie Shaw says.

•Fort Hood, Texas, home of the 4th Infantry Division, which returned from a second Iraq combat tour late last year. At least 2,700 soldiers suffered a combat brain injury, Lt. Col. Steve Stover says.

•Fort Carson, Colo., where more than 2,100 soldiers screened were found to have suffered a brain injury, according to remarks by Army Col. Heidi Terrio before a brain injury association seminar.

•Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, where 1,737 Marines were found to have suffered a brain injury, according to Navy Cmdr. Martin Holland, a neurosurgeon with the Naval Medical Center San Diego.

•VA hospitals, where Iraq and Afghanistan veterans have been screened for combat brain injuries since April. The VA found about 20% of 61,285 surveyed — or 11,804 veterans — with signs of brain injury, spokeswoman Alison Aikele says. VA doctors say more evaluation is necessary before a true diagnosis of brain injury can be confirmed in all these cases, Aikele says.

Soldiers and Marines whose wounds were discovered after they left Iraq are not added to the official casualty list, says Army Col. Robert Labutta, a neurologist and brain injury consultant for the Pentagon.

"We are working to do a better job of reflecting accurate data in the official casualty table," Labutta says.

Most of the new cases involve mild or moderate brain injuries, commonly from exposure to blasts.

More than 150,000 troops may have suffered head injuries in combat, says Rep. Bill Pascrell, D-N.J., founder of the Congressional Brain Injury Task Force.

"I am wary that the number of brain-injured troops far exceeds the total number reported injured," he says.

About 1.5 million troops have served in Iraq, where traumatic brain injury can occur despite heavy body armor worn by troops.

[Sea Skimmer]

To that you can also add thousands upon thousands of wounded who did not have their traumatic brain injuries properly diagnosed when they underwent treatment for more obvious wounds. Unfortunately the only real treatment for most of those injuries is planning to help deal with the consequences.

[LadyTevar]

Ok... what constitutes a Brain Injury, as the article did not specify.

[Tasoth]

Fourth line from the bottom states that they're inflicted by exposure to blasts, so my guess is various forms of concussion and actual brain damage.

[Sea Skimmer]

Ok... what constitutes a Brain Injury, as the article did not specify.

Traumatic Brain Injury refers to any kind of blow or penetrating damage to the brain that results in mental impairment afterward.


Sometimes the damage really is only short term, but even in so called mild cases some level of long term damage is common. What’s more, in the mild cases symptoms may not show up for weeks or months and yet require treatment, but early in the war before this risk was appreciated, the military didn’t do any long term screening.

It’s an Iraq specific issue because of the large number of bomb attacks on vehicles. Even if blast doesn’t enter the vehicle the injuries can still be cause by hitting your head on the interior. Modern helmets don’t provide much in the way of blunt impact protection.

[Raxmei]

We had a guy sent to Germany a little while ago for brain injury. He felt okay and there was no indication that anything was wrong except for a small headache that went away after a while. Like I said, he seemed okay on the outside but the doctors saw something funny on his brain scan so they sent him up for further tests.

The Army's making a big deal about brain trauma lately. There's mandatory online learning about it, safety courses, and the new helmet that replaces the PASGT has some impact protection.

[Broomstick]

Ok... what constitutes a Brain Injury, as the article did not specify.

Getting a knock on the head and feeling dizzy technically, in medical terms, can be a "brain injury". A concussion definitely is, even if it doesn't knock you out. In that respect, brain injuries are a LOT more common than people realize both in the military and civilian worlds.

They range from very minor (no noticeable long-term damage, sometimes nothing more than a short-term bad headache) to incredibly fucked up. As noted, sometimes the damage increases over time before the brain reaches a new equilibrium.

The thing is, the damage can be cumulative - so if someone has a minor concussion and you send them back into battle before full recovery and then they have another minor concussion, and another... well, in a couple of years you can wind up with someone with significant memory and cognitive defects. This cumulative effect was not widely known until recently, but it can be very important given the war environment in Iraq

[SCRawl]

To carry on from Broomstick's post, you may have heard the fairly recent expression "post-concussion syndrome" thrown around in sports. The realization that knocks on the head after you've already had a concussion (and before you've fully recovered) has made it into the realm of sports medicine, and this is the reason why players with brain injuries are now taking their time getting back into the lineup, and why many careers have been cut short.