New Study to Examine Brain for TBI and PTSD

Researchers at St. Louis University (SLU) are recruiting participants for a first-of-its-kind study to map and better understand the brain injuries of both combat veterans and civilians. The study is funded by a $5.3 million grant from the U.S. Department of Defense.

Researchers will use three types of imaging equipment together to acquire better data leading to a more complete classification of brain injuries:

1. 3 Tesla MRI (magnetic resonance imaging)

2. 64 Slice PET/CT (positron emission tomography / computed tomography)

3. MEG (magnetoencephalography)

Investigators hope this information will lead to better treatment for patients with traumatic brain injury as well as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) seems to be on the rise, but is it really? TBI is caused by physical trauma to the head. Symptoms may be be mild to severe and include headaches, nausea, seizures, and decreased levels of consciousness. In the United States, approximately 1.4 million people experience TBI each year, with 230,000 of them hospitalized and 50,000 dying. This seems like a huge number of people. However, we are in a time of war, a time of war when combat soldiers are equipped with better body armor and armored vehicles than ever before. It's thought that many combat veterans are now surviving injuries with TBI that were previously fatal.

Dr. Richard Bucholz, lead investigator for the study, explained:

"It’s an extraordinarily significant study. We are casting about with a new net. We think there is a lot of information that we don’t know about brain injuries... It’s an opportunity to get a better handle on the problem, to see what actually constitutes head injury as opposed to relying on a vague description of someone who is having problems after a blow to the head.

 

The aim of the study is to try to understand situations where patients with moderate head injury have anatomically normal brains but significant neurological impairment... We have noticed soldiers coming out of the Iraqi conflict whose MRI and CT images look structurally normal, but who nevertheless have significant neurological deficits. We’re trying to figure out why these brains are structurally normal but functionally abnormal... The situation is akin to looking at a city from 50,000 feet. We can see the highways and bridges and we can make out the outlines, but that doesn’t tell us anything about how the traffic is moving on the ground. That is what functional imaging will tell us."

It was once believed that the brain, once injured, was permanently damaged; that function could not be restored or recovered. However, it now seems that the brain is highly resilient, and it may have the ability to "rewire" itself. If one neural pathway is damaged, another may be able to compensate. To take advantage of this remarkable capability, doctors must determine which areas of the brain continue to function, which the imaging will be able to demonstrate.