- Col. G.I. Wilson in Iraq
In 2005, U.S. Marine Corps Col. G.I. Wilson was riding in a Humvee convoy between Ramadi and Fallujah in Iraq, when his vehicle passed over a tire concealing an improvised explosive device (IED).
The IED was triggered remotely, the resulting blast tearing through the Humvee’s undercarriage, knocking the 58-year-old Wilson unconscious and severely wounding other soldiers in the vehicle.
Military doctors treated his concussion symptoms, physical injuries and emotional stress (PTSD) and returned him to service. But after returning to America in 2006, Col. Wilson experienced lingering memory and attention problems; he “just didn’t feel right.” Ultimately, a MEG examination showed that he had suffered a mild Traumatic Brain Injury (MTBI), a revelation that would profoundly improve his life.
At the University of California San Diego (UCSD) and VA San Diego Healthcare System, a team led by Ming-Xiong Huang, Ph.D. and Roland R. Lee, M.D. is using magnetoencephalography (MEG) to image active-duty military and civilian populations to diagnose MTBI and to differentiate MTBI from PTSD, as the conditions share many symptoms.
While the causes of MTBI differ between the two groups – blast-induced for soldiers who served in Iraq and Afghanistan and a variety of accidents for civilians – the consequences are the same: sufferers experience one or more of a spectrum of cognitive/ behavioral problems. The MTBI research project is funded by ongoing grants from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Their MEG unit is a 306-channel Elekta Neuromag® system acquired in 2005.
Read Col. Wilson’s entire story in the August 2011 issue of Wavelength customer magazine: www.elekta.com/wavelength.
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