Cognitive-communication rehabilitation for combat-related mild traumatic brain injury

Over 2 million servicemembers (SMs) have served in two theaters of operation in Iraq (Operation Iraqi Freedom [OIF]), which ended in December 2011, and Afghanistan (Operation Enduring Freedom [OEF]). Improvements in body armor and advances in medical care have resulted in the highest survival rate of wounded military personnel compared with any previous conflict in U.S. history [1]. Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is among the most common injuries and has been called the “signature injury” of the Global War on Terror [2–3]. Data based on self-reports indicate that approximately 15 to 22 percent of SMs deployed in OIF/OEF may have sustained mild TBI (mTBI) as a result of exposure to improvised explosive devices [4–7]. The true incidence of mTBI among SMs remains largely unknown, because many SMs either do not seek immediate medical care or receive a diagnosis long after the injury, when the details of the event are more difficult to establish [8].