Program to gauge TBI in combat troops sidelined

A program by The Pentagon that placed blast gauges on thousands of combat troops in Afghanistan has been sidelined. According to an article by NPR, the gauges were discontinued because they reportedly failed to show whether service members were close enough to an explosion to sustain ill effects, such as traumatic brain injury or a concussion.

“But the small wearable devices did produce a trove of data on blast exposure that could eventually have helped researchers understand the links between bomb blasts, concussions and brain diseases,” the article reads. “And they produced evidence that many service members are exposed to worrisome levels of blast pressure simply by being near a heavy weapon when it’s fired.”

Traumatic brain injury(TBI) is a blow or jolt to the head or a penetrating head injury that disrupts the function of the brain. It is not currently known how neurological trauma resulting in TBI exactly interferes with the emergence of PTSD, but like PTSD, traumatic brain injury is difficult to recognize, diagnose and treat. While the creation of mine-resistant ambush-protected armored vehicles has saved many lives, TBIs suffered through these blasts have become known as the new silent signature war wounds of the war in Afghanistan.

Mild TBI has affected more than 200,000 troops.

“When NPR contacted the Army, a spokesman said it would be early 2017 before it could respond to an interview request,” the article reads. “… An overpressure of just 5 pounds per square inch can burst an eardrum. One-hundred PSI can be fatal. And somewhere in between is probably where most concussions occur. The Army began outfitting thousands of combat troops with blast gauges in 2011.”

One soldier who reportedly shot a shoulder-fired rocket received a concussion from shooting his own weapon. It was the gauges that alerted medical workers of his injury.

“As researchers began looking at the data from the gauges, it became clear that sort of exposure … was pretty common. Firing something like a recoilless rifle generates a powerful pressure wave both in front of and behind the weapon. Those pressure waves are usually less intense than those from a bomb,” the article reads. “But exposures are far more common, and not limited to the battlefield. A service member on the training range may experience 30 to 300 exposures per day, multiple days per week.”