Brain scan shows mark of bomb blasts, study finds

Brain scan shows mark of bomb blasts, study finds
Specialized test spots abnormalities in servicemen who incur concussions

By Julie Steenhuysen

6/1/2011

CHICAGO — Soldiers with traumatic brain injury caused by a blast may have abnormalities in the white matter of their brain — an important brain cell communication center — that cannot be seen on ordinary brain scans, U.S. researchers said Wednesday.

They said it is not yet clear whether the hidden injuries affect brain function or play a role in traumatic stress injuries.

Using an imaging technique called diffusion tensor imaging, researchers at Washington University of St. Louis studied 63 injured soldiers who had been evacuated to the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany from Iraq and Afghanistan after being exposed to different types of blasts.
They found abnormalities in 18 out 63 patients diagnosed with mild traumatic brain injury from blasts, but not among 21 control subjects who were injured in other ways.

The areas highlighted in the study have not been seen in other studies using the same imaging technology in civilians with brain injuries, suggesting there may be something different that occurs in blast injuries.
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Brain scan shows mark of bomb blasts, study finds