Traumatic Brain Injury News

Lawmaker wants quicker pace for brain injury research

By Rick Maze
Staff writer

A New Jersey congressman who is pushing for more federal funding for research into treatment of brain injuries said the federal government needs to step up its efforts on this issue.“There is no cure for brain injury,” said Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr., D-N.J., a member of the Congressional Brain Injury Task Force who is trying to get more money for the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center.“We must find a way through research to help our [troops] with brain injury to return to as near-normal a life as possible,” he said. “Because brain injuries can require lifelong care, the need for treatment and care for the victim and their family does not stop when injured troops are discharged from the hospital.”

Traumatic brain injury has become one of the signature wounds of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, with 1,500 people treated by the brain injury center to date.

“About one in 10 service members in Iraq … return from combat tours with concussions,” Pascrell said. “Experts say the real total is much higher because closed head injuries, in which there may be no obvious wound, often go undiagnosed.”

Money for the brain injury center is being considered as part of the pending veterans' funding bill that is tied up in negotiations between the House and Senate. Work on that bill has been put off until after the November elections because lawmakers took a recess last week to campaign.

“The changing nature of warfare demands corresponding improved and specialized medical care,” Pascrell said. “Blast injuries, particularly those causing brain injuries, are becoming the primary injury of the conflict in Iraq.”

Added October 12, 2006


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