WASHINGTON — Does VA need to employ more aggressive tactics when it comes to getting veterans struggling with PTSD, depression and substance abuse into treatment?  Should some of those tactics involve using disability benefits as an incentive to receive treatment instead of as a simple entitlement?

WASHINGTON — Exercises that have proven effective in improving the cognitive skills of multiple sclerosis patients also may be useful in treating symptoms of TBI.

WASHINGTON — Currently, when troops in Afghanistan suffer a head injury and require magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), they generally must be flown to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany. That ordeal may be keeping some servicemembers from reporting symptoms and getting the care they need, according to DoD officials who say MRIs soon will be available in theater.

WASHINGTON — Acute stress is rampant among troops in Afghanistan who are experiencing “a dramatic increase” in the levels of combat activity, according to a recent study.

Washington - Severe traumatic brain injusry (TBI) may be a complex medical condition with serious long-term consequences, but the latest recommendations are for a relatively simple change in diet to improve morbidity and mortality.

WASHINGTON—A military research clinical trial evaluating the use of antioxidants to reduce sequela of mTBI in 80 troops after blast injury has come under fire by DoD’s Inspector General (IG).

Use short, simple sentences. Summarize key points throughout the appointment.
These are among the tips that a recently released toolkit recommends to providers treating military personnel with mTBI who are also suffering from co-occurring health conditions.

Patients with chronic traumatic encephalopathy are sometimes diagnosed as suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias until post-mortem brain examination proves otherwise. CTE, a preventable form of dementia believed to be caused by repetitive mild head injuries, has been identified in former boxers and football players. Now researchers are turning their attention to former soldiers with mild head injuries to determine whether CTE could cause future dementia development.

WASHINGTON, DC—Returning servicemembers are among the some 40 million Americans who suffer from chronic long term sleep disorders, and, for reasons ranging from disrupted sleep during deployment, battlefield stress or even hyper vigilance, their sleep problems can be especially challenging to treat. That is even more the case when post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, pain and traumatic brain injury (TBI) are involved.

WASHINGTON, DC—Since an Institute of Medicine report in 2008, there has been significant consensus that penetrating and severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) increases the risk for dementia later in life. The evidence was not as strong linking mild TBI (mTBI) to dementia. More research was needed.