Research out of the Boston VA TRACTS program has been looking at brain scans in veterans and service members exposed to bomb blasts. They are finding evidence of "brain-aging" in exposed veterans, independent of medical diagnosis of TBI or mTBI. This continues to be a decades-long study to learn more about how the brain adapts to trauma and resilience factors.
Early evidence is showing that the brain is affected by blast exposure, even if servicemember does not experience classic symptoms of concussion. See the beginning of the story for a less-than-5-minute youtube video interviewing the researchers and one of the veteran study participants.
Reference
Gregg Zoroya. USA Today. Published online 6.1.2015. "Study: Bomb Blasts may cause early aging in brains of troops.". retrieved 6/8/2015. http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/06/01/veterans-tbi-blast-aging-brain-damage/27971927/
More Resources
The Boston VA TRACTS program, the Boston Translational Research Center for TBI and Stress Disorders.
TRACT was a featured program in the 2012 VA Research Week. For the 2012 youtube video and information on how to join a study or learn more about ongoing VA research, check out the research and development (R&D) page.
Brainline Facebook page
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