Landstuhl hopes to start new brain trauma center

[unhappycamper]

Sharon Reid, a computed tomography technician, helps Airman 1st Class John Gormley, an airman from the 435th Security Forces Squadron at Ramstein Air Base, move into position for a CT scan at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center. Landstuhl is asking the Army surgeon general for 48 additional staff members to open a local Traumatic Brain Injury Center.



Landstuhl hopes to start new brain trauma center
By Charlie Reed, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Friday, November 2, 2007


LANDSTUHL, Germany — Landstuhl Regional Medical Center wants to hire 48 new employees to ramp up treatmentof traumatic brain injuries, which affect up to 30 percent of servicemembers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Hospital officials submitted the plan to develop an autonomous brain injury center to Europe Regional Medical Command last week. If approved, plans for the center would require authorization from the Army Surgeon General before moving forward.

Considered one of the hallmark injuries of the Iraq war, traumatic brain injury, or TBI, disrupts normal brain function and typically is caused by a blow or jolt to the head. Depression, anxiety, aggressive behavior and cognitive issues such as trouble with short-term memory and concentration are among the most common side effects.

The planned TBI center would focus on developing better ways to treat, diagnose and screen for TBI. The research it yields also could shape the development of new protective gear, vehicles and combat operations procedures for troops who have been exposed to blasts but are considered well enough to stay downrange.

“We hope to gather data that will allow us to advise on policies that will guide the commanders on the appropriate employment of their troops,” said Army Dr. (Col.) Stephen Flaherty, chief of the hospital’s trauma center. “The units themselves have made changes in how they employ their forces,” though there are no military-wide guidelines.

Landstuhl began screening every patient coming in from Iraq and Afghanistan for TBI in May 2006 after doctors noticed that many of them had inexplicable problems that later were diagnosed as TBI.


Rest of artilce at: http://stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=49970

[flashl]

1. Maybe, Landstuhl plan will be better than ...

DU Post -Fledgling Army program records how soldiers' brains work

Before they leave for Iraq, thousands of troops with the 101st Airborne Division line up at laptop computers to take a test: basic math, matching numbers and symbols, and identifying patterns. They press a button quickly to measure response time.

It's all part of a fledgling Army program that records how soldiers' brains work when healthy, giving doctors baseline data to help diagnose and treat the soldiers if they suffer a traumatic brain injury -- the signature injury of the Iraq war.

"This allows the Army to be much more proactive," said Lt. Col. Mark McGrail, division surgeon for the 101st. "We don't want to wait until the soldier is getting out of the Army to say, 'But I've had these symptoms.'"