A high incidence of blast exposure is a 21st century reality in counter-insurgency warfare. However, thresholds for closed-head blast-induced traumatic brain injury (bTBI) remain unknown. Moreover, without objective information about relative blast exposure, warfighters with bTBI may not receive appropriate medical care and may remain in harm's way. Accordingly, we have engineered a blast injur...

ABSTRACT Introduction Hearing loss and insomnia emerged as preeminent sources of morbidity among military service members veterans who served in the recent Iraq Afghanistan conflicts. Significant threshold shift (STS), an early indicator hearing loss, has not been studied relation to insomnia. This study’s objective was examine co-occurrence STS U.S. personnel with blast-related injury. Materia...

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) due to explosive blast exposure is a leading combat casualty. It is also implicated as a key contributor to war related mental health diseases. A clinically important consequence of all types of TBI is a high risk for development of seizures and epilepsy. Seizures have been reported in patients who have suffered blast injuries in the Global War on Terror but the exa...

BACKGROUND In November 2008, a surgical team from the Red Cross Hospital Beverwijk, the Netherlands, was deployed in Afghanistan for three months to attend in the army hospital of Kandahar.During their stay, four incidents of armored personnel carriers encountering an improvised explosive device were assessed. In each incident, two soldiers were involved, whose injuries were strikingly similar....

A diaphragmatic injury is usually associated with injury to thoracic or abdominal organs due to blunt or penetrating trauma, and is uncommon after blast injury. We describe a patient with respiratory distress due to herniation of the stomach into the chest through a diaphragmatic injury, sustained 1 year previously when he suffered a blast injury while on deployed military operations, but witho...

Results: The rate of concussion, defined by the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center Working Group on the Acute Management of Mild Traumatic Brain Injury in Military Operational Settings, was 95%. The rate of PTSD, as determined either with the PTSD Checklist or by confirming a prior diagnosis by another healthcare provider, was 97.9%. Both rates are remarkably higher than rates reported in...

Military personnel are returning from Iraq and Afghanistan and reporting non-specific physical (somatic), behavioral, psychological, and cognitive symptoms. Many of these symptoms are frequently associated with mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) and/or post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Despite significant attention and advances in assessment and intervention for these two conditions, chall...

Blast-induced traumatic brain injury (TBI) is the signature insult in combat casualty care. Survival with neurological damage from otherwise lethal blast exposures has become possible with body armor use. We characterized the neuropathologic alterations produced by a single blast exposure in rats using a helium-driven shock tube to generate a nominal exposure of 35 pounds per square inch (PSI) ...

Blast-related traumatic brain injury (TBI) from the Afghanistan and Iraq wars represents a significant medical concern for troops and veterans. To better understand the consequences of primary-blast injury in humans, we present a case of a Marine exposed to multiple primary blasts during his 14-year military career. The neuropsychological profile of this formerly high-functioning veteran sugges...

This multisite investigation assessed subjective, behavioral, and objective balance function in 30 blast survivors. Subjects with vertigo, dizziness, or imbalance were screened (n = 6) or evaluated (n = 27) during 1 year. Tests included a questionnaire, electronystagmography (ENG), and computerized dynamic posturography (CDP). Ninety-seven percent of subjects were located inside a building duri...