1
Literature Review on Brain Injuries Due to Combat
September 8, 2024
Introduction
Traumatic brain injuries are some of the most disabling types of injuries that can happen to military personnel during combat or battle. Modern warfare, which involves the improvisation of explosive devices, for instance, has increasingly caused such injuries. Long-lasting cognitive, emotional, and physical impairment because of TBIs may be expected to influence the quality of lives veterans may lead. The purpose of this literature review is to summarize current research on brain combat injuries, biases toward effects, antecedents, and treatment approaches. The literature review also intends to identify gaps in the literature that this research proposal is prone to fill.
Summary of Existing Research
The Consequences of Combat Brain Injuries
Several works outlined numerous critical consequences that have been associated with brain injuries during combat. O’Keeffe et al. 2020 indicate mild TBIs are characterized by dynamic blood-brain barrier disruption, leading to chronic neurological problems. The level of severity of brain injuries, mainly due to repeated concussions, is positively related to the severity of long-term cognitive and psychological disabilities (Brett et al., 2022). These effects include loss of memory, inability to concentrate well, depression, anxiety, and an increased risk of neurodegenerative diseases. A deeper understanding of these effects would be critical in laying down effective rehabilitation strategies to improve life quality among the affected veterans.
Antecedents of Brain Injuries
The two most prevalent causes of brain injuries in personnel during combat are exposure to explosive devices and direct combat exposure. Soldiers who have had more than one concussive incident are highly likely to be suffering from severe traumatic brain injury, as was evidentially reported by Maas et al. (2022). Two leading factors contributing to the severity of the brain lesion include frequency and intensity of exposure to such incidents. It includes the following individual factors: age, gender, and rank that may affect the severity of injury and recovery outcome. Most such factors have not been widely studied in combat-related TBI; hence, there is a gap in the literature.
Approaches to Treatment
Various approaches have been studied for treating combat-related brain injury. Cognitive and physical rehabilitation programs have improved the quality of life of some TBI patients. However, such treatments are highly variable between individuals in their relative effectiveness, and effective long-term recovery has yet to be realized. Recent research has pointed out the trend towards personalized treatment schemes, considering each soldier’s peculiar circumstances. On the other hand, one finds a greater interest in preventive measures, such as advanced protective gear and training programs that can considerably reduce the incidence of brain injuries in combat.
Gaps in the Literature as many studies have been carried out on brain injuries, there are still several gaps. To begin with, there is a limited number of studies that have explored the long-term effects of mild Traumatic Brain Injury, specifically on the cognitive and emotional functioning of the person. Though this is understandable, given the lack of study of repeated concussions throughout a soldier’s career, and though a few studies do compare the efficiency of different approaches, very few indeed compare the long-term outcome of various rehabilitation strategies. Demographic factors, including age and gender, also need to be further studied in terms of their association with severity and recovery from combat-related TBIs.
Alignment with Research Proposal
This literature review fills the identified gap in the research proposal through its overview of the status of knowledge regarding brain injury among combatants. The review describes the enormity of the problem, its principal causes, and current treatment approaches. Such synthesis outlines some significant holes in the literature concerning the long-term effects of mild TBIs, the impact of multiple concussions, and treatment that requires individualized patient planning.
Such proposed research, therefore, could serve to illuminate the lacunae in knowledge related to injuries of the brain during combat about the variables surrounding their severity, the long-term effects on cognition and psychological health, and a variety of rehabilitation strategies and their modifications to meet the needs of each soldier (Maas et al., 2022). Emphasis on such focal areas will, therefore, contribute to the knowledge base on combat-related brain injury, besides developing relevant strategies for formulating better prevention and treatment.
Conclusion
Finally, combat-related TBI is one of the critical concerns concerning long-term cognitive-emotional-physical consequences for the affected soldiers. Even though past research was instrumental in illuminating the results of such traumas, their precursors, and modes of treatment, many gaps persist, with the long-term effects of mild TBI, the effect of multiple concussions, and the need for individualized treatment plans remaining among them. These lacunas are what the proposed research aims to fill as a contribution to developing improved strategies in the prevention and treatment of combat-related brain injuries. Improvement in the quality of life of the veterans, while being enhanced by the present study, will further inform policies on training protective gear and rehabilitation programs.
References
Brett, B. L., Gardner, R. C., Godbout, J., Dams-O’Connor, K., & Keene, C. D. (2022). Traumatic brain injury and risk of neurodegenerative disorder. Biological psychiatry, 91(5), 498-507.
Maas, A. I., Menon, D. K., Manley, G. T., Abrams, M., Åkerlund, C., Angelic, N., … & Zemek, R. (2022). Traumatic brain injury: progress and challenges in prevention, clinical care, and research. The Lancet Neurology, 21(11), 1004-1060.
O’Keeffe, E., Kelly, E., Liu, Y., Giordano, C., Wallace, E., Hynes, M., Tiernan, S., Meagher, A., Greene, C., Hughes, S., Burke, T., Kealy, J., Doyle, N., Hay, A., Farrell, M., Grant, G. A., Friedman, A., Veksler, R., Molloy, M. G., … Campbell, M. (2020). Dynamic Blood-Brain Barrier Regulation in Mild Traumatic Brain Injury.
Journal of Neurotrauma,
37(2), 347–356.
