Concussions go undiagnosed in thousands of troops, doctors say
Thousands of troops in Iraq and Afghanistan may risk permanent brain damage by returning to combat with relatively minor but undiagnosed concussions, often caused by bomb blasts, military researchers say.
http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/story.php?f=0-MARINEPAPER-1858871.php
By Gregg Zoroya
USA Today
Doctors say they are only now understanding the scope of the problem.
The injuries frequently go undiagnosed because troops may not know they suffered a concussion, doctors say. Medics and field doctors often aren’t aware of what happened during fighting.
“This blast group is going to be potentially huge,” said Angela Drake, a neuropsychologist with the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center, a research arm of the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Pentagon. “We’re looking at thousands of potential patients.”
But the Pentagon has refused to release precise data on how many soldiers have suffered brain injuries in Iraq and Afghanistan, saying that disclosing the information would put the lives of those fighting at risk.
The data come from screenings of 1,587 soldiers at Fort Bragg, N.C., and 9,000 at Fort Carson, Colo. Army Medical Command spokesman Jaime Cavazos said June 7 that the results of the tests represent “information the enemy could use to potentially make soldiers more vulnerable to harm.” He declined to elaborate.
However, the Naval Medical Center San Diego, which has been screening Marines from nearby Camp Pendleton for two years — and, more recently, soldiers from the Army’s Fort Irwin — released separate data the week of June 5.
Those data show that 10 percent of 7,909 leathernecks with the 1st Marine Division suffered brain injuries.
Researchers tried to follow up with 500 Marines who suffered concussions. They reached 161 of them and found that 83 percent were still suffering symptoms on average 10 months after the injury.
From Fort Irwin, 1,490 soldiers were screened, and almost 12 percent suffered concussions during their combat tours.
Military doctors describe brain injuries as a signature wound of these wars. That’s because advances in body armor save soldiers who might have died in previous conflicts, but roadside bombs can cause brain damage. U.S. troops in Iraq are exposed to hundreds of bombings each month.
“Repeated concussions can be quite serious and even lethal,” said Air Force Maj. Gerald Grant, a neurosurgeon who treated troops in Iraq.