Issue Brief

Traumatic Brain Injury

There is a great need to address mild-to-moderate cases of traumatic brain injury, the most common injury among of Iraq/Afghanistan veterans.

The Situation

• Traumatic brain injury (TBI), the most common injury of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, is caused by improvised explosive devices, or explosive blasts, which violently shake or compress the brain within the closed skull and cause devastating and often permanent damage to brain tissues.
• Behavioral problems, memory loss, disruptive acts, depression and substance abuse are reported symptoms associated with TBI.
• TBI accounts for almost 20 percent of the combat casualties sustained by U.S. soldiers and marines engaged in Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF).

The Challenge

• Many OEF/OIF service members have suffered mild, but pathologically significant, brain injuries that have gone undiagnosed and largely untreated.
• Programs addressing the needs of veterans with mild to moderate cases of TBI have not, according to the 2008 Independent Budget, been fully developed or implemented. The Department of Defense, in fact, has revealed that it still lacks a system-wide approach for identification, management, and surveillance of individuals who sustain mild-to-moderate TBI.
• Veterans with TBI often have difficulty admitting their health issues and seeking proper assistance. This challenge is often aggravated when veterans are unable or unwilling to overcome the barrier of distance to the nearest VA center.

The Solution

• Proper screening and personalized recovery plans are needed to detect and treat TBI.
• An increase in specialists with TBI experience is needed to assist in identifying and managing the complex conditions that are not easily solved with regular treatment.
• More research is necessary to understand the long term consequences of brain injury, as well as the best practices in treating these injuries. The research should also focus on older veterans who may have suffered these injuries before modern practices were invented to detect mild-to-moderate cases of TBI.