Traumatic Brain Injury In Modern War

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is common and especially with military service. In Iraq and Afghanistan, explosive blast related TBI has become prominent and is mainly from improvised explosive devices (IED). Civilian standard of care clinical practice guidelines (CPG) were appropriate has been applied to the combat setting. When such CPGs do not exist or are not applicable, new practice standards for the military are created, as for TBI. Thus, CPGs for prehospital care of combat TBI CPG [1] and mild TBI/concussion [2] were introduced as was a DoD system-wide clinical care program, the first large scale system wide effort to address all severities of TBI in a comprehensive organized way. As TBI remains incompletely understood, substantial research is underway. For the DoD, leading this effort are The Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center, National Intrepid Center of Excellence and the Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury. This program is a beginning, a work in progress ready to leverage advances made scientifically and always with the intent of providing the best care to its military beneficiaries.