Combat-related traumatic brain injury and its implications to military healthcare

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a known injury in today's combat arena. Improved screening and surveillance methods have diagnosed TBI with increasing frequency. Current treatment plans are based largely on information gleaned from sports injuries. However, these management paradigms fail to address the effect of physiologic stress (fatigue, dehydration) and psychological stress at the time of injury as well as the number of previous concussions that may affect recovery from combat-related TBI. This article presents current evaluation and management of combat-related injury and discusses other psychological conditions that may coexist with TBI.