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Brain injury may not be culprit in symptoms

Finally, there is some hopeful news about U.S. troops who suffered head injuries in Iraq.

New research suggests that many of their symptoms may be due to stress and depression - treatable conditions - rather than permanent damage from mild traumatic brain injury.

Several nonmilitary doctors praised the research and agreed that if the findings are correct, there is potential for strong improvement for many soldiers.

Thousands of soldiers returning from Iraq have struggled with memory loss, irritability, trouble sleeping and concentrating, as well as other problems. Many have suffered mild blast-related concussions, but there is no easy way to separate which symptoms are due to physical damage and which are from mental problems caused by the traumatic stress of war. Imaging of the brain is being tested, but hasn't yet proven to be helpful.

The new study, based on a survey of 2,525 soldiers, found that brain injury made traumatic stress more likely. The study tied only one symptom - headaches - specifically to brain injury.

"We found that the symptoms and health concerns that we expected to be due to the concussion actually proved to be more strongly related to PTSD," or post-traumatic stress disorder, and depression, said Dr. Charles Hoge, a colonel and psychiatry chief at Walter Reed Army Institute of Research who led the study. "There isn't a clear delineation between a psychological and a physical problem."

Other doctors were optimistic about treatment. "It gives us hope, because we've got good treatments for PTSD," said Barbara Rothbaum, a psychologist who heads a trauma recovery program at Emory University in Atlanta. "If we can relieve the PTSD and depression, I'm hoping we'll see alleviation of a lot of these physical symptoms."

Hoge reported on the survey Wednesday at a military health conference in Washington. Results also were published in today's New England Journal of Medicine.

FAST FACTS

Iraq violence

Sporadic violence was reported around Iraq on Wednesday, including a drive-by shooting in Mosul that killed a university professor and one of his students. A roadside bomb blast killed an Iraqi TV cameraman and his driver Tuesday night in Balad as they were driving to Samarra to report on the shrine whose bombing in February 2006 set off waves of sectarian violence, the station reported Wednesday.

[Last modified January 31, 2008, 01:53:19]