Sat, Aug 30, 2008 (2:06 a.m.)

Now that football season has arrived, we will be hearing a lot about player injuries, including concussions caused by violent contact on the field. Those brain injuries, which can lead to memory loss, slurred speech and coordination problems, have been thoroughly researched by leading experts in medicine and science.

Sadly, the same is only beginning to occur with a different type of concussion, which the Pentagon estimates has been experienced by 300,000 combat troops who served in Iraq or Afghanistan. The New York Times, in a story Tuesday, reported that battlefield concussions caused by proximity to bomb blasts produce brain injuries that are often overlooked.

Scientists concede they know little about this type of brain trauma. Dr. Alisa Gean, chief of neuroradiology at San Francisco General Hospital, told the Times: “We’re at the tip of the iceberg of understanding it. It is one of the most complicated injuries to one of the most complicated parts of the body.”

Unfortunately, CT scans and other methods used to detect concussions caused by blows to the head often do not work for injured troops whose brains were rattled by roadside bombs. The Times also reported that the language the Veterans Affairs Department uses to rate traumatic brain injuries is vague. That means many injured troops may be cheated out of disability payments they deserve.

The Pentagon, to its credit, is spending $300 million this year on concussion-related research and has found mild brain injuries in at least 33,000 troops. But many soldiers who fought in Iraq or Afghanistan still have not been screened.

That situation should be corrected immediately, because even a mild concussion, if left untreated, can ruin a person’s life.

We hope the research funded by the Pentagon will result in a better understanding of the brain traumas caused by bomb blasts, as well as ways to properly diagnose and treat those injuries. If the research is successful, the Pentagon would be well-advised to screen combat veterans again because the ones who initially tested negative for brain injuries might not have such good results the next time around.