Brain Trauma News

By M. CHRIS WOLF, PH.D.

Brain Trauma News has found that a study by Bonds, Baiocchi and McDonald (2010) on Army Deployments to OIF and OEF is very significant.

The stats point out that since the beginning of operations in 2001, the Army has provided over one million troop-years to Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) through December 2008.

Further, Brain Trauma News has discovered that these deployments represent 52 percent of the total troop deployments within the area of operations, and over 75 percent of the deployments on the ground in Iraq, Kuwait, and Afghanistan in 2008.

According to the statistics complied by Meagher, editor of "PTSD Combat: Winning the War Within", Statistics current through March 2007 indicate all armed forces troops who have served in OEF/OIF since 2001 are over 1.4 million. We now know that that number is well over 1.5 million.

The fourth quarter of 2010 statistics are in for service members who have sustained a Mild Traumatic Brain Injury.

The data indicated that 24,846 service members have sustained a mild TBI.

Concussion or Mild TBI is characterized by the following: A confused or disoriented state which lasts less than 24 hours; loss of consciousness for up to 30 minutes; memory loss lasting less than 24 hours; and structural brain imaging (MRI or CT scan) yielding normal results.

This type of injury along with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) are the signature wounds of the two wars.

According to the latest findings discovered by Brain Trauma News3,683 service members have sustained a moderate TBI.

Moderate TBI is characterized by the following: A confused or disoriented state which lasts more than 24 hours; loss of consciousness for more than 30 minutes, but less than 24 hours.

Further, memory loss lasting greater than 24 hours but less than seven days; and structural brain imaging yielding normal or abnormal results are considered to be Moderate TBI.

Brain Trauma News has learned that 201 service membersduring the last four (4) months of 2010 (4th quarter) have suffered a severe brain injury.

Severe TBI is characterized by the following: A confused or disoriented state which lasts more than 24 hours; loss of consciousness for more than 24 hours.

Also, severe TBI includes memory loss for more than seven days; and structural brain imaging yielding normal or abnormal results.

Finally, the data indicates that of those injuries above, 254 service members have sustained a penetrating brain injury.

Penetrating TBI, or open head injury, is characterized by the following: A head injury in which the dura mater, the outer layer of the meninges, is penetrated.

Penetrating injuries can be caused by high-velocity projectiles or objects of lower velocity such as knives, or bone fragments from a skull fracture that are driven into the brain.

What does this brain injury news all this mean?

The human costs of the war on terror have been enormous. We owe our service men and women and their families who support them a debt of gratitude for their courageous service.

We hope that our society will provide for these wounded warriors as they begin to transition from military to civilian life.

Memory Loss Facts will continue to keep you posted on what is happening with Military TBI in future articles on our web site.

Also see Military TBI

Learn about Brain Injury Symptoms

What is Post Concussion Syndrome?

Sports Concussion - Is it a brain trauma?

For more information on Military TBI consider:

Improve Brain Health Now

The Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center (DVBIC).

The Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Workbook: Your Program for Regaining Cognitive Function & Overcoming

Emotional Pain (New Harbinger Self-Help Workbook) by Douglas J. Mason and Gottfried Jean-Louis.

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