Posted on May 28, 2015
Should Service Members have baseline brain scans prior to deployment or upon entering service?
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Should the Services or Medical Community at large consider baseline brain scans for Service Members prior to deployment or upon entering service? Professional and amateur sports teams and clubs are considering it . I personally experienced two minor sports related concussions prior to my service and two more while serving, one in Korea and one on my first tour to Iraq. Thankfully I did not experience any lingering trauma as determined by post deployment brain scans. What do you think? All opinions welcome.
Posted in these groups: 
TBI
TBI
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 9
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Gavin , they have that computer based test pre and post deployment to look for TBI. The predeployment is a baseline. They also maintain your results from previous deployments.
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LTC Gavin Heater
I wonder how this is working? I recall a PTSD questionnaire, but I am not sure how that is working either. I guess that some baseline is better than no baseline.
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LTC Jason Mackay
Forgot the name...ANAM. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automated_Neuropsychological_Assessment_Metrics
Automated Neuropsychological Assessment Metrics - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Automated Neuropsychological Assessment Metrics (ANAM), is a library of computer-based assessments of cognitive domains including attention, concentration, reaction time, memory, processing speed, and decision-making. ANAM has been administered nearly two million times in a variety of applications and settings. ANAM provides clinicians and researchers with tests to evaluate changes in an individual’s cognitive status over time.
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Seems like a reasonable precaution to take, although there'd likely be concerns about cost since MRIs aren't cheap.
Maybe a compromise solution where it is a pre-deployment requirement would work.
Maybe a compromise solution where it is a pre-deployment requirement would work.
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LTC Gavin Heater
Perhaps there at other exams that include questionnaires and an interviews that could pre-screen, and then determine who really needs the scan. Cheaper than a lifetime of care if a candidate is determined vulnerable to permanent damage if they have another concussion. Studies of boxers and football players now prove that trauma was cumulative and known.
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Before and after and add a Nero physic test to it that adds the base line of where they stand also a definition needs to be establish one hospital says test for brain injury this way another says test this way when I showed up at the VA they wanted to run two or three different test with different results depending on who was reading the results and that persons "agenda" one difenAtive test needs to be establish and made the rule of law and get the "agendas" out of the mix
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