Returning troops are getting tested for brain injuries

FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. — Every soldier who has gone to war in the past year has paused before leaving, to take a brain test — basic math, matching numbers and symbols and identifying patterns to measure response time and accuracy.

Now that some of these troops have returned, they're taking a fresh round of tests, all part of a broad effort by the military to better treat head injuries.

The Department of Defense is also deploying some unusual weapons for treating the injuries, including paint guns and motion-sensitive video games integrated into therapy at new trauma centers around the country.

Funding for the treatment of these injuries is expected to increase under President Barack Obama, who said Thursday that his new military and veterans-affairs budget will focus on diagnosing brain injuries and psychological disabilities that have gone untreated.

More than 150,000 service members from the Marines, Air Force, Army and Navy have undergone the testing that became mandatory last year. Those who suffer a concussion or similar head injury will get a follow-up test.

The 101st Airborne Division is the only division going a step further and testing all soldiers again over the last few months as they have been returning to Fort Campbell from tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The tests alone can't diagnose traumatic brain injuries, the signature injury of the wars. The potentially crippling and sometimes hard-to-detect damage comes from blows that can include an exploding roadside bomb, a mortar blast or a vehicle crash.

But the tests help doctors zero in on which mental functions are damaged and the best way to treat that by comparing an individual soldier's brain function before and after the injury.

Dr. David Twillie, director of a newly opened brain-injury care center at Fort Campbell, says the individual results are necessary "because the brain is a fairly complex organ, and because when they experience a fall or a blast, there's no way to necessarily pinpoint what particular structures within the brain were injured, because the injuries are microscopic in nature."

"So it's not really one-size-fits-all," he said.

Military doctors estimate that 10 percent to 20 percent of soldiers sent to Iraq or Afghanistan suffer a traumatic brain injury. Symptoms can range from minor headaches or dizziness to memory loss or vision problems. And it can take some soldiers a while to realize how severely they've been affected.