80% Wounded Warrior at Walter Reed with TBI and PTSD

Torso injuries fall, brain traumas rise at Walter Reed

By Leo Shane III
Stars and Stripes



WASHINGTON — Doctors at Walter Reed Army Medical Center are treating fewer torso and limb injuries in troops returning from combat but more brain trauma and psychological disorders, the top Pentagon health official said Wednesday.

Ward Casscells, assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, said that’s largely due to the drop in violence in Iraq, and could reverse as fighting intensifies in Afghanistan in coming months.

But he also credited better recognition of brain injuries by doctors and a lessening of the stigma associated with some psychological diagnoses. For example, physicians saw an increase in the number of patients reporting symptoms of depression over the last year.

"Guys are telling us they would still much rather be diagnosed with traumatic brain injury than post-traumatic stress disorder," Casscells said. "But we’re getting at some of that stigma. We’ve reduced it a bit.

"And as we increase dwell time, we hope to see decreases in those numbers as well."

More than 80 percent of "wounded warrior" patients at Walter Reed are dealing with traumatic brain injuries, post-traumatic stress disorder, concussion complications and similar wounds, hospital officials said.
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