Veterans and Brain Disease

[Penn]

By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
Published: April 25, 2012

Multiple blast exposure is one consideration in explaining the progressive degeneration of the brain.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/26/op...me&ref=general

[PRB]

A serious concussion is a serious concussion...as in pro boxers, pro football players, or those in a metal box experiencing an IED.
Our nervous system can only take so much shock without perm damage that shows up right now or slowly over time.
Lot's of 'healthy' guys today will be suffering with this issue in some years.

[Badger52]

Originally Posted by PRB

A serious concussion is a serious concussion...as in pro boxers, pro football players, or those in a metal box experiencing an IED.
Our nervous system can only take so much shock without perm damage that shows up right now or slowly over time.
Lot's of 'healthy' guys today will be suffering with this issue in some years.

And if things get 2x better it will only take "the system" 20 years to connect the dots.

[Saturation]

The information and photographs are overwhelming.

My hats off to the families that allowed an autopsy to happen so these results could be shared. Hopefully they can develop a way to dx before death and then work towards some treatment.
Without a test I'm not sure the VA will step up... although they eventually did with ALS.

I'm not surprised. Not one bit.
As PRB stated, a serious concussion's a serious concussion. Regardless of its origin, may it be after blunt force trauma of the ring or because of the shock waves produced by a blast from an improvised explosive device. And the effects of one or multiple serious concussions on a human brain are well documented, at least for athletes competing in sports where traumatic physical contact occurs frequently. Add traumatic encephalopathy to the psychological effects induced by finding yourself in a conflict and there you have a strong connection. Hopefully medicine will find treatment to CTE in the near future.