Showing posts with label concussion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label concussion. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Combat Brain Trauma Increasing, 9,000 Pulled from Duty
Full article at: More troops' mild brain trauma diagnosed
By Gregg Zoroya, USA TODAY
By Garrett Hubbard, USA TODAY
"Nearly 1,400 U.S. servicemembers were found to have concussions or mild brain injuries in Afghanistan and Iraq this year under a program that forces servicemembers to take a break from combat when exposed to a blast or other jarring incident.The military has pulled about 9,000 servicemembers from combat for short periods of time to look for signs of brain injury after blasts that caused no obvious wounds, according to data given to USA TODAY."
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Under New Rules, Military Doctors Diagnosing More Concussions
This doctor's referenced here seems to be of the belief that "the order helps prevent permanent brain damage that can result if a servicemember has a second concussion before the first one heals".
This overly broad generalization ignores the fact that brain damage has occurred with the first concussion.
"Scientists warn, however, that it is unclear whether the brain has healed even if symptoms go away."
ow these troops just need to make sure that their medical records adequately reflect the diagnosis and that they obtain a copy of these medical records for any potential disability filings they may have to file in the future.
Full Article at: More troops' concussions diagnosed under new rules
By Gregg Zoroya, USA TODAY
KANDAHAR AIR BASE, Afghanistan — "Military doctors are diagnosing hundreds of concussions among combat troops because of an unprecedented order requiring them to leave the battlefield for 24 hours after being exposed to a blast.
Doctors say the order helps prevent permanent brain damage that can result if a servicemember has a second concussion before the first one heals.
"For the last eight years prior to the implementation of these protocols, we weren't doing things the right way," said Gen. Peter Chiarelli, the Army vice chief of staff.
Concussions among U.S. troops in Afghanistan increased from 62 diagnosed cases in June to 370 in July when the new rules were imposed, according to the U.S. Central Command, which oversees combat here.
From July through September, more than 1,000 soldiers, Marines and other U.S. servicemembers were identified with concussions, more than twice the number diagnosed during the previous four months, Central Command says.
TROOPS' HEAD INJURIES: More diagnosed under new rules
"I'm certainly never happy to see the rate of any wound increase, (but) I think the data clearly demonstrates that TBI (traumatic brain injury) is getting the attention it deserves," says Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who pushed for the new rules. "Battlefield leaders are taking the issue seriously and getting their troops the help they need."
Under the new policy, troops caught within 165 feet of a blast (about half the length of a football field) must be pulled from the battlefield for at least 24 hours and examined for evidence of a concussion. The same goes for troops in a vehicle or building struck by a bomb.
Symptoms include brief loss of consciousness, clouded thinking, dizziness and headaches. Ninety percent recover from their symptoms and return to combat, although this can take days or weeks.
The data show that concussions may be far more common in combat than previously known and may suggest that thousands of these casualties may have been missed earlier in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, Mullen says.
Roadside bombs are the most common source of injuries to U.S. troops. Troops in the past tended to shake off blast effects and continue fighting, according to Army field studies.
To treat symptoms of concussions, the military has set up five "rest centers" here where troops can recover, says Army Lt. Col. Kristofer Radcliffe, a neurologist supervising the effort. Scientists warn, however, that it is unclear whether the brain has healed even if symptoms go away.
"Unfortunately, we still don't know," says Ibolja Cernak, a brain-injury scientist at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory."
This overly broad generalization ignores the fact that brain damage has occurred with the first concussion.
"Scientists warn, however, that it is unclear whether the brain has healed even if symptoms go away."
ow these troops just need to make sure that their medical records adequately reflect the diagnosis and that they obtain a copy of these medical records for any potential disability filings they may have to file in the future.
Full Article at: More troops' concussions diagnosed under new rules
By Gregg Zoroya, USA TODAY
KANDAHAR AIR BASE, Afghanistan — "Military doctors are diagnosing hundreds of concussions among combat troops because of an unprecedented order requiring them to leave the battlefield for 24 hours after being exposed to a blast.
Doctors say the order helps prevent permanent brain damage that can result if a servicemember has a second concussion before the first one heals.
"For the last eight years prior to the implementation of these protocols, we weren't doing things the right way," said Gen. Peter Chiarelli, the Army vice chief of staff.
Concussions among U.S. troops in Afghanistan increased from 62 diagnosed cases in June to 370 in July when the new rules were imposed, according to the U.S. Central Command, which oversees combat here.
From July through September, more than 1,000 soldiers, Marines and other U.S. servicemembers were identified with concussions, more than twice the number diagnosed during the previous four months, Central Command says.
TROOPS' HEAD INJURIES: More diagnosed under new rules
"I'm certainly never happy to see the rate of any wound increase, (but) I think the data clearly demonstrates that TBI (traumatic brain injury) is getting the attention it deserves," says Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who pushed for the new rules. "Battlefield leaders are taking the issue seriously and getting their troops the help they need."
Under the new policy, troops caught within 165 feet of a blast (about half the length of a football field) must be pulled from the battlefield for at least 24 hours and examined for evidence of a concussion. The same goes for troops in a vehicle or building struck by a bomb.
Symptoms include brief loss of consciousness, clouded thinking, dizziness and headaches. Ninety percent recover from their symptoms and return to combat, although this can take days or weeks.
The data show that concussions may be far more common in combat than previously known and may suggest that thousands of these casualties may have been missed earlier in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, Mullen says.
Roadside bombs are the most common source of injuries to U.S. troops. Troops in the past tended to shake off blast effects and continue fighting, according to Army field studies.
To treat symptoms of concussions, the military has set up five "rest centers" here where troops can recover, says Army Lt. Col. Kristofer Radcliffe, a neurologist supervising the effort. Scientists warn, however, that it is unclear whether the brain has healed even if symptoms go away.
"Unfortunately, we still don't know," says Ibolja Cernak, a brain-injury scientist at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory."
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Athletic Concussions Produce Brain Damage
Concussion, whatever incurred, either in combat or on an athletic field, brain injury or damage results. It is with this comparison that I post this article on concussion sustained by athletes.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/01/26/athlete.brains/index.html
Dead athletes' brains show damage from concussions
By Stephanie Smith
CNN Medical Producer
(CNN) -- For years after his NFL career ended, Ted Johnson could barely muster the energy to leave his house.
The brain of a 45-year-old football player with chronic traumatic encephalopathy shows more brown tangles.
In healthy brain tissue, virtually no protein tangles, which show up as brown spots, are visible.
"I'd [leave to] go see my kids for maybe 15 minutes," said Johnson. "Then I would go back home and close the curtains, turn the lights off and I'd stay in bed. That was my routine for two years.
"Those were bad days."
These days, the former linebacker is less likely to recount the hundreds of tackles, scores of quarterback sacks or the three Super Bowl rings he earned as a linebacker for the New England Patriots. He is more likely to talk about suffering more than 100 concussions.
"I can definitely point to 2002 when I got back-to-back concussions. That's where the problems started," said Johnson, who retired after those two concussions. "The depression, the sleep disorders and the mental fatigue."
Until recently, the best medical definition for concussion was a jarring blow to the head that temporarily stunned the senses, occasionally leading to unconsciousness. It has been considered an invisible injury, impossible to test -- no MRI, no CT scan can detect it.
But today, using tissue from retired NFL athletes culled posthumously, the Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy (CSTE), at the Boston University School of Medicine, is shedding light on what concussions look like in the brain. The findings are stunning. Far from innocuous, invisible injuries, concussions confer tremendous brain damage. That damage has a name: chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).
CNN American Morning
Watch more on concussions and the brain Wednesday
6 a.m. - 9 a.m.
CNN American Morning »
On Tuesday afternoon, researchers at the CSTE released a study about the sixth documented case of CTE in former NFL player Tom McHale, who died in 2008 at the age of 45, and the youngest case to date, an 18-year-old multi-sport athlete who suffered multiple concussions.
While CTE in an ex-NFL player's brain may have been expected, the beginnings of brain damage in an 18-year-old brain was a "shocking" finding, according to Dr. Ann McKee, a neuropathologist at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Bedford, Massachusetts, and co-director of the CSTE.
"We think this is how chronic traumatic encephalopathy starts," said McKee. "This is speculation, but I think we can assume that this would have continued to expand."
CTE has thus far been found in the brains of six out of six former NFL players.
"What's been surprising is that it's so extensive," said McKee. "It's throughout the brain, not just on the superficial aspects of the brain, but it's deep inside."
CSTE studies reveal brown tangles flecked throughout the brain tissue of former NFL players who died young -- some as early as their 30s or 40s.
McKee, who also studies Alzheimer's disease, says the tangles closely resemble what might be found in the brain of an 80-year-old with dementia.
"I knew what traumatic brain disease looked like in the very end stages, in the most severe cases," said McKee. "To see the kind of changes we're seeing in 45-year-olds is basically unheard of."
The damage affects the parts of the brain that control emotion, rage, hypersexuality, even breathing, and recent studies find that CTE is a progressive disease that eventually kills brain cells.
Chris Nowinski knows well the impact of concussions. He was a football star at Harvard before wrestling professionally with World Wrestling Entertainment.
Don't Miss
* High school football coach charged in player's death
* Time.com: Study: Kids competing too soon after concussions
* SportsIllustrated.com: Football's big headache
In one moment, his dreams of a long career wrestling were dashed by a kick to his chin. That kick, which caused Nowinski to black out and effectively ended his career, capped a career riddled with concussions.
"My world changed," said Nowinski. "I had depression. I had memory problems. My head hurt for five years."
Nowinski began searching for studies, and what he found startled him.
"I realized when I was visiting a lot of doctors, they weren't giving me very good answers about what was wrong with my head," said Nowinski. "I read [every study I could find] and I realized there was a ton of evidence showing concussions lead to depression, and multiple concussion can lead to Alzheimer's."
Nowinski decided further study was needed, so he founded the Sports Legacy Institute along with Dr. Robert Cantu, a neurosurgeon and the co-director of the CSTE. The project solicits for study the brains of ex-athletes who suffered multiple concussions.
Once a family agrees to donate the brain, it is delivered to scientists at the CSTE to look for signs of damage.
So far, the evidence of CTE is compelling.
The Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy, along with other research institutions, has now identified traumatic encephalopathy in the brains of late NFL football players John Grimsley, Mike Webster, Andre Waters, Justin Strzelczyk and Terry Long, in addition to McHale.
Grimsley died of an accidental gunshot wound to the chest. Webster, Long and Strzelczyk all died after long bouts of depression, while Waters committed suicide in 2006 at age 44. McHale was found dead last year of an apparent drug overdose.
"Guys were dying," said Nowinski. "The fact of the matter was guys were dying because they played sports 10 or 20 years before."
So far, around 100 athletes have consented to have their brains studied after they die.
Ted Johnson was one of the first to sign up. He said he believes that concussions he suffered while playing football explain the anger, depression and throbbing headaches that occasionally still plague him.
Johnson said he played through concussions because he, like many other NFL athletes, did not understand the consequences. He has publicly criticized the NFL for not protecting players like him.
"They don't want you to know," said Johnson. "It's not like when you get into the NFL there's a handout that says 'These are the effects of multiple concussions so beware.' "
Health Library
* MayoClinic.com: Concussion
* MayoClinic.com: Post-concussion syndrome
In a statement, the NFL indicated that their staffs take a cautious, conservative approach to managing concussions.
While they support research into the impact of concussions, they maintain that, "Hundreds of thousands of people have played football and other sports without experiencing any problem of this type and there continues to be considerable debate within the medical community on the precise long-term effects of concussions and how they relate to other risk factors."
The NFL is planning its own independent medical study of retired NFL players on the long-term effects of concussion.
"Really my main reason even for talking about this is to help the guys who are already retired," said Johnson. "[They] are getting divorced, going bankrupt, can't work, are depressed, and don't know what's wrong with them. [It is] to give them a name for it so they can go get help."
"The idea that you can whack your head hundreds of times in your life and knock yourself out and get up and be fine is gone," said Nowinski. "We know we can't do that anymore. This causes long-term damage."
http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/01/26/athlete.brains/index.html
Dead athletes' brains show damage from concussions
By Stephanie Smith
CNN Medical Producer
(CNN) -- For years after his NFL career ended, Ted Johnson could barely muster the energy to leave his house.
The brain of a 45-year-old football player with chronic traumatic encephalopathy shows more brown tangles.
In healthy brain tissue, virtually no protein tangles, which show up as brown spots, are visible.
"I'd [leave to] go see my kids for maybe 15 minutes," said Johnson. "Then I would go back home and close the curtains, turn the lights off and I'd stay in bed. That was my routine for two years.
"Those were bad days."
These days, the former linebacker is less likely to recount the hundreds of tackles, scores of quarterback sacks or the three Super Bowl rings he earned as a linebacker for the New England Patriots. He is more likely to talk about suffering more than 100 concussions.
"I can definitely point to 2002 when I got back-to-back concussions. That's where the problems started," said Johnson, who retired after those two concussions. "The depression, the sleep disorders and the mental fatigue."
Until recently, the best medical definition for concussion was a jarring blow to the head that temporarily stunned the senses, occasionally leading to unconsciousness. It has been considered an invisible injury, impossible to test -- no MRI, no CT scan can detect it.
But today, using tissue from retired NFL athletes culled posthumously, the Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy (CSTE), at the Boston University School of Medicine, is shedding light on what concussions look like in the brain. The findings are stunning. Far from innocuous, invisible injuries, concussions confer tremendous brain damage. That damage has a name: chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).
CNN American Morning
Watch more on concussions and the brain Wednesday
6 a.m. - 9 a.m.
CNN American Morning »
On Tuesday afternoon, researchers at the CSTE released a study about the sixth documented case of CTE in former NFL player Tom McHale, who died in 2008 at the age of 45, and the youngest case to date, an 18-year-old multi-sport athlete who suffered multiple concussions.
While CTE in an ex-NFL player's brain may have been expected, the beginnings of brain damage in an 18-year-old brain was a "shocking" finding, according to Dr. Ann McKee, a neuropathologist at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Bedford, Massachusetts, and co-director of the CSTE.
"We think this is how chronic traumatic encephalopathy starts," said McKee. "This is speculation, but I think we can assume that this would have continued to expand."
CTE has thus far been found in the brains of six out of six former NFL players.
"What's been surprising is that it's so extensive," said McKee. "It's throughout the brain, not just on the superficial aspects of the brain, but it's deep inside."
CSTE studies reveal brown tangles flecked throughout the brain tissue of former NFL players who died young -- some as early as their 30s or 40s.
McKee, who also studies Alzheimer's disease, says the tangles closely resemble what might be found in the brain of an 80-year-old with dementia.
"I knew what traumatic brain disease looked like in the very end stages, in the most severe cases," said McKee. "To see the kind of changes we're seeing in 45-year-olds is basically unheard of."
The damage affects the parts of the brain that control emotion, rage, hypersexuality, even breathing, and recent studies find that CTE is a progressive disease that eventually kills brain cells.
Chris Nowinski knows well the impact of concussions. He was a football star at Harvard before wrestling professionally with World Wrestling Entertainment.
Don't Miss
* High school football coach charged in player's death
* Time.com: Study: Kids competing too soon after concussions
* SportsIllustrated.com: Football's big headache
In one moment, his dreams of a long career wrestling were dashed by a kick to his chin. That kick, which caused Nowinski to black out and effectively ended his career, capped a career riddled with concussions.
"My world changed," said Nowinski. "I had depression. I had memory problems. My head hurt for five years."
Nowinski began searching for studies, and what he found startled him.
"I realized when I was visiting a lot of doctors, they weren't giving me very good answers about what was wrong with my head," said Nowinski. "I read [every study I could find] and I realized there was a ton of evidence showing concussions lead to depression, and multiple concussion can lead to Alzheimer's."
Nowinski decided further study was needed, so he founded the Sports Legacy Institute along with Dr. Robert Cantu, a neurosurgeon and the co-director of the CSTE. The project solicits for study the brains of ex-athletes who suffered multiple concussions.
Once a family agrees to donate the brain, it is delivered to scientists at the CSTE to look for signs of damage.
So far, the evidence of CTE is compelling.
The Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy, along with other research institutions, has now identified traumatic encephalopathy in the brains of late NFL football players John Grimsley, Mike Webster, Andre Waters, Justin Strzelczyk and Terry Long, in addition to McHale.
Grimsley died of an accidental gunshot wound to the chest. Webster, Long and Strzelczyk all died after long bouts of depression, while Waters committed suicide in 2006 at age 44. McHale was found dead last year of an apparent drug overdose.
"Guys were dying," said Nowinski. "The fact of the matter was guys were dying because they played sports 10 or 20 years before."
So far, around 100 athletes have consented to have their brains studied after they die.
Ted Johnson was one of the first to sign up. He said he believes that concussions he suffered while playing football explain the anger, depression and throbbing headaches that occasionally still plague him.
Johnson said he played through concussions because he, like many other NFL athletes, did not understand the consequences. He has publicly criticized the NFL for not protecting players like him.
"They don't want you to know," said Johnson. "It's not like when you get into the NFL there's a handout that says 'These are the effects of multiple concussions so beware.' "
Health Library
* MayoClinic.com: Concussion
* MayoClinic.com: Post-concussion syndrome
In a statement, the NFL indicated that their staffs take a cautious, conservative approach to managing concussions.
While they support research into the impact of concussions, they maintain that, "Hundreds of thousands of people have played football and other sports without experiencing any problem of this type and there continues to be considerable debate within the medical community on the precise long-term effects of concussions and how they relate to other risk factors."
The NFL is planning its own independent medical study of retired NFL players on the long-term effects of concussion.
"Really my main reason even for talking about this is to help the guys who are already retired," said Johnson. "[They] are getting divorced, going bankrupt, can't work, are depressed, and don't know what's wrong with them. [It is] to give them a name for it so they can go get help."
"The idea that you can whack your head hundreds of times in your life and knock yourself out and get up and be fine is gone," said Nowinski. "We know we can't do that anymore. This causes long-term damage."
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