Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center Formerly The Defense & Veterans Head Injury Program (DVHIP)         Working for a cure through medical care, clinical research and education

Home About Us What's New? DVBIC Sites Medical Care Clinical Research Educational Activities/ Resources Blast Injury FAQ Links to other helpful sites Contact Us What's New?   CURRENT ARTICLE | PREVIOUS ARTICLES October is Brain Injury Awareness Month The very words 'brain injury' often instill fear in people and make them uncomfortable. To increase public awareness and understanding, October is designated Brain Injury Awareness month. A common misconception is that having a brain injury is the same as being brain damaged. That is not necessarily the case. People's injuries can range from mild to moderate to severe. There are mild and moderate kinds of traumatic brain injury that result in temporary disability and impairment. They are the equivalent of a concussion. People often fully recover from these kinds of injuries. A high school football player who clashes helmets with an opponent and gets knocked out for a few seconds may be told he has a concussion. That is a mild brain injury. A young cadet at West Point who loses a boxing match and feels a little disoriented after a particularly powerful hook from her opponent may be told she has a concussion. That is a mild brain injury. A soldier in Iraq who is close to an IED that explodes may get knocked off his feet and briefly lose consciousness. He may notice later that he feels a little slow, that the events of the day seem a little unclear to him and that he seems to be having trouble remembering things or concentrating on routine tasks. He may well have a concussion, a mild brain injury. Frequently these events are passed over with a humorous comment about "getting your bell rung." While that may well be what it felt like, ringing that very precious 'bell' may have more serious effects than the comment would suggest. People with mild to moderate brain injuries can experience a variety of difficulties. They may have physical symptoms such as headache, dizziness/vertigo, balance problems and sleep disturbance. They may have cognitive symptoms including short-term memory deficits, poor concentration, or being more easily distracted and have difficulty making simple decisions. They may also have changes in their mood that make them feel different than they did before their injury. The most common mood changes that people with brain injury experience are increased irritability, sad mood, lack of motivation and increased anxiety. One of the confusing and often deceptive things about brain injuries is that they are not visible to the eye. When a patient breaks an arm or suffers a burn, there are visible signs of their injuries which signal to others that the person has been hurt. Oftentimes when people hit their heads in motor vehicle accidents or are able to grow hair over scars on their heads there are no visual cues to others that the person may have suffered a concussion or mild brain injury. While scars and visible injuries may be uncomfortable to patients and may make them feel self-conscious, they do serve to communicate something to others who interact with them. They serve to signal that a person may be in pain, may be fatigued, and may be irritable. They signal that the person has been hurt and may not be their 'usual self' in many different kinds of ways. While there has historically been little written about traumatic brain injury (TBI) in the popular press, service members injured in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom are drawing increased attention to this important issue. In prior conflicts, TBI accounted for 14-20% of surviving combat casualties. Unfortunately, preliminary information from the current conflicts suggests that number is now higher. The increased use of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in current warfare has led to higher numbers of blast injuries in our soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines. Blast injuries are a rapidly growing cause of TBI in current combat. Additionally, certain military assignments carry an increased risk for exposure to TBI. These include, among others, airborne operations and policing in combat areas. CURRENT ARTICLE | PREVIOUS ARTICLES March 15-21, 2004 is Brain Awareness Week Recently Published DVBIC Research Report to Congress on Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Released Brain Injury in the Military Featured Topic on Capitol Hill Index March 15-21, 2004 is Brain Awareness Week Did you know that 50 million Americans suffer some damage to their brain or spinal cord that limits their daily activities? The Brain Awareness Week campaign, launched in 1996, has united the Society for Neuroscience with The Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives and a coalition of over 1,200 science, advocacy, and other health organizations that share an interest in elevating public awareness of brain and nervous system research. Researchers and clinical care professionals at the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center (DVBIC) are working to understand the effects of traumatic brain injuries among U. S. military service members in order to develop better treatments. To learn more about our educational activities visit our Education page or the Links page. To learn more about the brain and brain awareness week, visit the Society for Neuroscience web sites at http://web.sfn.org/baw/ Index Recently Published DVBIC Research Winter 2004 Walker WC. (2004) Pain pathoetiology after TBI: neural and non-neural mechanisms. Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation, 19, 72-81. Lew, HL, Lee EH, Miyoshi Y, Chang DG, Date ES, Jerger JF: Brainstem auditory-evoked potentials (BAEPs) as an objective tool for evaluating hearing dysfunction in traumatic brain injury. Am J Phys Med Rehabil 2004;83:210-215 Fall 2003 Ivins BJ, Schwab KA, Warden D, Harvey LT, Hoilien MA, Powell CO, Johnson CS, Salazar AM. (2003). Traumatic brain injury in U.S. Army paratroopers: prevalence and character. Journal of Trauma, 55(4), 617-21. Luis, C. A., Vanderploeg, R. D., Curtiss, G. (2003). Predictors for a postconcussion symptom complex in community dwelling male veterans. Journal of the International Neuropsychology Society, 9, 1001-1015. Martin EM, Coyle MK, Warden DL, Salazar A. (2003) Telephonic nursing in traumatic brain injury. American Journal of Nursing, 103(10), 75-81. Ryan, L.M. & Warden, D. L. (2003). Post concussion syndrome. International Review of Psychiatry, 15, 310-316. Vanderploeg, R. D., Curtiss, G., Duchnick, J. J., Luis, C. A. (2003). Demographic, medical, and psychiatric factors in work and marital status following mild head injury. Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation, 18, 148-163. You can visit MEDLINE http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/ to read abstracts of these articles and to obtain information on the availability of full text articles. Index Report to Congress on Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Released Nearly 1.5 million Americans sustain traumatic brain injuries (TBI) in the United States each year. Learn more about brain injuries from the recently published Report to Congress on Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Index Brain Injury in the Military Featured Topic on Capitol Hill On October 15, 2003, the Congressional Brain Injury Task Force hosted the 2003 Brain Injury Awareness Month Fair on Capitol Hill. The Brain Injury Task Force is co-chaired by Congressman Jim Greenwood and Congressman Bill Pascrell. The National Brain Injury Research, Treatment and Training Foundation sponsored the event. Educational booths from twenty-seven organizations provided members of Congress information on the following topics:    The incidence and prevalence of brain injury    The needs of persons with brain injury    TBI is one of the most frequent causes of death and disability    Successful prevention efforts and the needs for the future    What is happening in the states with respect to services    Cutting edge research    Successful rehabilitative methods and needs for the future    Development of a cure A press conference highlighting the personal stories of Sgt. Colin Rich, injured in firefight in Afghanistan and Warrant Officer John Sims, Black Hawk Helicopter Pilot injured in Iraq was held. Major General Kevin C. Kiley, commanding general of the North Atlantic Regional Medical Command, discussed the effects of brain injuries, available treatment, the occurrence and impact of brain injuries in the military, and the need for increased funding to support more aggressive research necessary for successful treatment. To read the story of Sgt. Colin Rich as reported in the Boston Globe click on the following article: Brain injuries take toll on US soldiers To learn more about the Brain Injury Task Force visit Congressman Pascrell's website: http://www.pascrell.house.gov/display2.cfm?id=684&type=Bills%20Views

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