War Injuries & ESCR

[rayilynlee <rayilynlee@xxxxxxx>]

US Veteran Brain Injury News 

Traumatic Brain Injury in the War Zone

By Jeffrey M. Drazen, M.D. 

The war in Iraq has resulted in an unprecedented number of traumatic brain 
injuries to U.S. soldiers. As described by Okie in this issue of the Journal,1 
these soldiers have been saved from what in the past might have been a lethal 
injury by a combination of new protective battlefield equipment and 
extraordinary resourcefulness on the part of medical first responders and 
military surgeons. These medical personnel have saved many lives. 

Their success breeds another problem, however: how to provide the best 
long-term care for the survivors of these injuries. Once the bleeding has been 
stopped and the brain swelling has subsided, the long road to recovery begins. 
The military and the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) have done their best 
to use existing knowledge to provide wounded soldiers with the care they need 
to overcome their injuries. But we owe more to the wounded men and women who 
have sacrificed on our behalf; as a nation, we should be using all available 
means to aid them. 

Biomedical science has made amazing advances in the development of biohybrid 
devices and neural prostheses such as artificial retinas. But there is much 
more to do, and more research is necessary if these nascent developments are to 
be transformed into therapies that can truly assist seriously injured military 
personnel. The effort will cost money and require research talent. Congress 
needs to allocate more resources for research specifically targeted at these 
problems. Given the traditional role of the VHA in caring for injured veterans, 
it makes sense to allocate substantial new resources to this agency's seriously 
underfunded research program specifically for this purpose. 

The advances that have been made have come about because researchers have been 
able to use the best tools of modern biologic science, including nanotechnology 
and robotics, to achieve their goals. Sadly, one tool that holds great promise 
- embryonic stem-cell research - cannot be used in federally funded research. 
It is ironic that the same government that asked military personnel to make 
sacrifices and that has developed highly sophisticated methods of combat rescue 
has limited the research tools that may lead to better ways to repair their 
injuries. 

A report issued by the National Research Council and the Institute of Medicine 
of the National Academies in late April recognizes that stem-cell research is 
proceeding in many places but that there is not a uniform regulatory framework 
for the endeavor. The report proposes uniform guidelines for this work, but we 
should go beyond the existing patchwork of research support in the United 
States; this research needs to be funded and encouraged at the federal level. 
We need national standards, but most important, the work must go forward. 
Embryonic stem cells are an appropriate resource for work on the regeneration 
of organs and nerves. We should give our researchers the fiscal and research 
resources they need to potentially help wounded veterans return to full 
function. These men and women have given their best efforts for their country; 
we owe them nothing less. 

. 






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