Brain Injury Association of Texas, 26th Annual Texas Brain Injury State Conference, Austin, Texas

 

June 3-6, 2010

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Is There a Physiological Difference Between Mild Traumatic Brain Injuries (mTBI) and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Among US Veterans?

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MC Mireles, PhD, MPH, Community Medical Foundation for Patient Safety, Bellaire, TX

WC Paske, PhD, Red Oak Instruments, LLC, Katy, TX

 

Abstract:

TBI and the Military:

·         Most are blast-related trauma (Wightman and Gladish, 2001; DePalma et al, 2005)

·         Blast related trauma accounts for 88% of personnel treated (Iraq) (Taber, Warden and Hurley, 2006)

·         47% of these injuries involved the head

·         97% of injuries in one Marine unit (Iraq) due to explosions (65% IED; 32% mines) (Gondusky and Reiter, 2005)

·         82% returned to duty after 3 light duty days(range from 0 to 30 days) (Gondusky and Reiter, 2005)

 

Description/Topics:

·         Physiological injuries associated with impact can be “seen” using physiological measurements

·         Psychological injuries due to PTSD do not exhibit the same physiological markers as mTBI injuries

·         Markers similar to depression… weakness, slow response, … are present in some PTSD subjects

·         PTSD physiological markers have not been convincingly detected to date

 

Physiological Test Conclusions:

·         Can use new risk indicators as defined by exploratory study

·         May not require baseline tests

·         Risk factors appear to be sensitive

·         Risk factors appear to be specific

·         Results show feasibility for larger study to prove or disprove ability to triage mTBI/PTSD

·         Results show feasibility for larger study to differentiate mTBI from PTSD