Iowa City VA Hospital Workers Focus on the Brain

By Steve Nicoles, Iowa City Reporter

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By Becky Ogann

Story Created: Mar 8, 2007 at 6:07 PM CST

Story Updated: Mar 8, 2007 at 9:01 PM CST

IOWA CITY - The VA Hospital in Iowa City is taking a closer look at the brain and the effects of war. Workers at the VA Hospital have until the end of the month to become certified in traumatic brain injuries. And they're finding cases often don't look like bob woodruff.

Doctors at the VA in Iowa City will tell you about two trends with the war in Iraq: people are living longer, but they're living with injuries.

"The more subtle injuries tend to be the traumatic brain injury and the post traumatic stress which are very disruptive to their everyday lives," said Dr. Deborah Gideon, neuropsychologist.

Gideon focuses on the subtleties of brain injuries.

As a neuropsychologist she tests veterans for hours, trying to see if they have any of a variety of cognitive deficiencies.

"The more difficult and challenging cases are those in which people are walking and talking but having serious difficulty managing their everyday affairs," said Gideon.

These difficult injuries don't show up on an MRI. When patients go through the machine, it's easy for doctors to see if shrapnel from a roadside bomb hit them in the head. But more and more often doctors are seeing patients without physical injuries.

"Traumatic brain injury is a very complex entity. MRI will reveal abnormalities in only a small number of patients," said Dr. John Cowdery, VA chief of staff.

Medical staff at the VA is required to become more familiar with the brain. By the end of the month, they're expected to be able to understand the problems so they can look for solutions.

Doctors say military personnel are getting brain injuries from blast waves. When a bomb explodes nearby, compressed air called a blast wave, hits a soldier. The soldier might not have exterior head wounds, but still have internal injuries.

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