Wisconsin Medical College Wins $6.8 Million Grant to Study Brain Safety in Military

The Medical College of Wisconsin will research neck, spine and brain safety in the military thanks to the U.S. Army.

The college received a five-year, $6.8 million grant from the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command to conduct the research, according to an article by the Milwaukee Business Journal.

The research will be conducted by the Wauwatosa private medical school.

“The study will include an analysis of military helmet-mounted equipment on neck injury potential; quantifying the differences between men and women for spinal injury thresholds and safety criteria; and evaluating advanced measurement technology for assessing brain injuries in military populations,” the article reads. “The grant was awarded to the Medical College of Wisconsin’s Department of Neurosurgery.  Narayan Yoganandan, a professor of neurosurgery, is the principal investigator.  Frank Pintar, who is chief of research and a professor in the department of neurosurgery, is the co-principal investigator.”

The goal of the study is to help improve the safety of military personnel when it comes to head, neck and spinal injuries. The research data will also be applicable to the civilian population, the Medical College said.

Service members can sustain a TBI during day-to-day activities, such as while playing sports or participating in recreational events, military training and military deployment, according to the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center.

DVBIC is the Defense Department’s office of responsibility for tracking traumatic brain injury(TBI) data in the U.S. military.

The majority of traumatic brain injuries sustained by members of the U.S. Armed Forces are classified as mild TBI, also known as concussion. Most service members who sustain a mild TBI return to full duty within seven to 10 days through rest and the progressive return to activity process, in which patients gradually return to normal activity using a standardized, staged-approach. Further treatment is available if symptoms persist after the recommended rest period.

More than 344,000 service members have been diagnosed with some form of traumatic brain injury since 2000. In 2015, 22,594 service members were diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury, according to the DVBIC.

“Nearly one-third of all military personnel evacuated for medical reasons from Iraq and Afghanistan from 2004 through 2007 suffered musculoskeletal, connective-tissue or spinal injuries, according to a study led by a  Johns Hopkins University  researcher. The number of soldiers medically retired from the Army with at least one musculoskeletal condition increased nearly tenfold from 2003 to 2009, according to Army statistics.”