.Virtual Iraq targets combat disorders
Veterans grappling with post-traumatic stress disorder got an up-close and jarring look at a new immersion therapy offered by an Elk Grove Village hospital.
Called Virtual Iraq, it's like a combat video game, where the players put on goggles and headphones and use a joystick to dodge roadside bombs and snipers while the scent of diesel fuel wafts around them.
"I don't want to throw somebody into a panic attack," said Dr. Patrick McGrath, director of the center for anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorders at Alexian Brothers Medical Center. "PTSD is a fear of a memory, and we want people to realize a memory can't hurt you."
The hospital is dramatically stepping up efforts to provide therapy to returning Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, offering everything from family counseling to a high-tech diagnostic screening process to differentiate between post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury and depression -- three conditions haunting a new wave of veterans.
"One of the things that Alexian has realized is that community hospitals have to get involved here," said Dr. Jeffrey Lewine, a neuroscientist and director of the hospital's center for brain research. "The VAs are great but the VAs are going to be overwhelmed as these guys come through."
The hospital recently held a symposium in Hoffman Estates to highlight the program, which is funded in part by a $97,500 grant received this year from the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs. Attended by hundreds of doctors, veterans and their families, the daylong event featured cutting-edge therapies designed to help soldiers re-integrate into their communities.
At the heart of the process is a new scan called magnetoencephalography, or MEG, which reads faint magnetic signals emanating from the brain. Resembling an oversize hair dryer, the unit is key to diagnosing traumatic brain injury, a signature of the Iraq war affecting an estimated 20 percent of returning veterans, according to the Brain Injury Association of America, a Virginia-based nonprofit.
While symptoms range from mild to severe cognitive impairment, the technique can improve treatment outcomes by helping to reveal previously undiagnosed cases, Lewine said.
"In about 60 [percent] to 80 percent of individuals where, based on history, we suspect they have mild traumatic brain injury, the MEG will actually be abnormal and give us a clear objective picture that this brain is not functioning properly," he said.
For the hundreds of veterans who already have used the services, the results are encouraging, said Kathleen Prunty, a hospital administrator who helped to launch the program.
Diagnosed with PTSD, Ryan McNabb, 28, of Winthrop Harbor knows firsthand the challenges faced by returning troops. Between 2004 and 2006, McNabb served two tours of duty as a Navy corpsman deployed with Marines on the treacherous streets of Fallujah and Anbar province, where more than a comrades died in his arms, he said.
"It's something that you're never ready for," said McNabb, a VA outreach coordinator and the father of two infant sons. "It's something that you just kind of have to cope with."
As difficult as his time in Iraq was, McNabb said, in some ways being back home is more of a challenge. McNabb said he is planning to go through the diagnostic screening process, hoping to put his demons behind him.
"Re-integration is rough," he said.
Chicago Tribune
Called Virtual Iraq, it's like a combat video game, where the players put on goggles and headphones and use a joystick to dodge roadside bombs and snipers while the scent of diesel fuel wafts around them.
"I don't want to throw somebody into a panic attack," said Dr. Patrick McGrath, director of the center for anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorders at Alexian Brothers Medical Center. "PTSD is a fear of a memory, and we want people to realize a memory can't hurt you."
The hospital is dramatically stepping up efforts to provide therapy to returning Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, offering everything from family counseling to a high-tech diagnostic screening process to differentiate between post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury and depression -- three conditions haunting a new wave of veterans.
"One of the things that Alexian has realized is that community hospitals have to get involved here," said Dr. Jeffrey Lewine, a neuroscientist and director of the hospital's center for brain research. "The VAs are great but the VAs are going to be overwhelmed as these guys come through."
The hospital recently held a symposium in Hoffman Estates to highlight the program, which is funded in part by a $97,500 grant received this year from the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs. Attended by hundreds of doctors, veterans and their families, the daylong event featured cutting-edge therapies designed to help soldiers re-integrate into their communities.
At the heart of the process is a new scan called magnetoencephalography, or MEG, which reads faint magnetic signals emanating from the brain. Resembling an oversize hair dryer, the unit is key to diagnosing traumatic brain injury, a signature of the Iraq war affecting an estimated 20 percent of returning veterans, according to the Brain Injury Association of America, a Virginia-based nonprofit.
While symptoms range from mild to severe cognitive impairment, the technique can improve treatment outcomes by helping to reveal previously undiagnosed cases, Lewine said.
"In about 60 [percent] to 80 percent of individuals where, based on history, we suspect they have mild traumatic brain injury, the MEG will actually be abnormal and give us a clear objective picture that this brain is not functioning properly," he said.
For the hundreds of veterans who already have used the services, the results are encouraging, said Kathleen Prunty, a hospital administrator who helped to launch the program.
Diagnosed with PTSD, Ryan McNabb, 28, of Winthrop Harbor knows firsthand the challenges faced by returning troops. Between 2004 and 2006, McNabb served two tours of duty as a Navy corpsman deployed with Marines on the treacherous streets of Fallujah and Anbar province, where more than a comrades died in his arms, he said.
"It's something that you're never ready for," said McNabb, a VA outreach coordinator and the father of two infant sons. "It's something that you just kind of have to cope with."
As difficult as his time in Iraq was, McNabb said, in some ways being back home is more of a challenge. McNabb said he is planning to go through the diagnostic screening process, hoping to put his demons behind him.
"Re-integration is rough," he said.
Chicago Tribune
posted by madtom at 12:04 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home