For unlocking the mysteries of what breaks in the brain when a bomb goes off nearby, advanced imaging machines will be like turning on the lights in a dark room, medical officials say.
It's "basically letting people peer under the bed," says Army Col. Christian Macedonia, science adviser to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Michael Mullen.
It is one reason why Mullen says he is pushing to install these machines into the war zones as soon as possible.
"I've actually made this a very high priority," Mullen says.
Two of the scanners are tentatively slated to reach Afghanistan in the fall.
At the height of the fighting season last year, more than 300 U.S. troops received mild traumatic brain injuries or concussions every month, often from exposure to a blast. The numbers were driven by an increase in foot patrols by U.S. forces pushing into Taliban strongholds in southern Afghanistan.
Troops not killed or gravely wounded by the blasts were often left stunned or momentarily unconscious.
Worried that many of them had suffered a mild traumatic brain injury or concussion, the military put new treatment procedures in place last year. The rules require any soldier or Marine caught near a blast to be pulled from combat for 24 hours and examined for signs of concussion. Those with symptoms -- such as dizziness, headaches or vomiting -- remain on rest duty until the problems subside, often a period of a week or two.
The fear was that troops needed time to recover and that exposure to a second blast, before a brain has healed, could cause permanent damage. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machines, will let doctors see areas of brain damage, say military and civilian brain experts.
The brain damage caused by blast exposure can be so microscopic that it does not show up on a computed tomography or CT radiation scan already in use in Afghanistan. But research has shown that about 30% of concussions missed by a CT scan are displayed by MRI.
MRI technology can also provide more precise diagnosis of muscular-skeletal problems, among the most common injuries in combat.
For concussions, MRI machines can reveal damage to the brain's wiring and also uncover areas where brain cell metabolism has been compromised, Macedonia says.
Doctors may see damage to areas of the brain that govern subtle functions, such as personality, mood swings or judgment. This will allow doctors to monitor those specific behaviors when trying to assess recovery, says David Brody, a civilian neurologist who used MRI to study combat-wounded troops at an Army hospital in Germany.
MRIs "will allow (field doctors) to get a little bit away from just making a gut check to decide when people go back" to combat, neurologist Christopher Giza says.
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