Brain injury study under way at Camp Pendleton

MILITARY: Brain injury study under way at Camp Pendleton
MILITARY: Brain injury study under way at Camp Pendleton
http://www.nctimes.com/search/?l=50&sd=desc&s=start_time&f=html&byline=By%20MARK%20WALKERmlwalker%40nctimes.comNorth County Times Posted: Friday, September 30, 2011 8:00 pm



A hyperbaric chamber at Camp Pendleton is being used to treat troops with mild traumatic brain injuries in a trial program to see if it speeds their recovery. Courtesy photo
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A half-dozen Marines with brain injuries from combat in Afghanistan or Iraq will crawl inside a hyperbaric chamber at Camp Pendleton next week to begin eight weeks of treatment breathing pure oxygen to see if it speeds their recovery.
Up to 100 base troops eventually are expected to take part in the study trying to find the best treatments for what is known as traumatic brain injury.
Many other troops suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder from their battlefield experiences also are expected to take part in the study to see if it helps them heal.
"I'm really hopeful that this potential treatment will help," said Navy Cmdr. James Caviness, head of occupational health services and the study's principal investigator at Naval Hospital Camp Pendleton.
"The anecdotal reports of hyperbaric chamber use in civilian settings are positive, and we need to rigorously look at this to see if we can use it," he added.
The troops taking part in the study are volunteers. Hundreds of others at the Marine Corps' Camp Lejeune in North Carolina and at Army bases at Fort Carson, Colo., and Fort Gordon, Ga., are taking part in similar studies.
Researchers will measure whether the use of the chamber can ease the headaches, memory loss and other ailments from mild traumatic brain injury, which are common after-effects for troops who are injured in roadside bomb attacks.
When the program was designed last year, U.S. Army Col. Richard Ricciardi at the Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury described it as one of many commissioned by the Pentagon to improve brain injury care.
"It's one part of the arsenal of treatments being tested across the system to tackle this challenging problem and do the right thing for our warriors," he said.
Traumatic brain injury has emerged as a common injury among troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, where anti-government forces rely on homemade bombs as a primary weapon.
More than 134,000 U.S. troops have been treated for such injuries since the Afghanistan and Iraq wars began, according to Pentagon statistics.
Close to 1,400 service members have suffered concussions or traumatic brain injury so far this year, according to the Defense Department.
The malady is divided into three classifications. Mild cases involve loss of consciousness for up to 30 minutes and mild amnesia.
The hyperbaric chamber at Camp Pendleton is inside a trailer adjacent to the hospital. Pressure inside it will be equivalent to what divers experience at about 20 feet under water.
The pressurization forces pure oxygen into the cells. The experiment tests whether the repeated trips to the chamber speed healing.
Some troops breathe pure oxygen administered under a tentlike hood so no gas escapes. Others will get a lesser amount of pure oxygen, and a third group will breathe normal air under near-similar pressure conditions to test the results.
Camp Pendleton's role is to help establish the precise treatment regimen and baseline testing troops will undergo to see if the treatment helps.
"There are a lot of unknowns about traumatic brain injury, which has emerged as the 'signature injury' of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan," Caviness said. "We need to learn a lot more, and this study will hopefully demonstrate it is something we can use."
Troops suffering from moderate or severe brain injuries are not part of the study because there is no evidence hyperbaric chambers speed their recovery.
Among the measurements technicians will use are batteries of memory, mood and motor function tests administered to troops before the study, as it takes place and at the end of the eight weeks.
Read more: http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/military/article_b93bb889-8830-5f98-801b-0d5278c1871b.html#ixzz1ZebPDmYw