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A recent VA study points to a possible breakthrough in differentiating between post-traumatic stress disorder and mild traumatic brain injury, otherwise known as a concussion.
The two disorders often carry similar symptoms, such as irritability, restlessness, hypersensitivity to stimulation, memory loss, fatigue, and dizziness.
Scientists have tried to distinguish between mTBI and PTSD in hopes of improving treatment options for veterans, but many symptom-based studies have been inconclusive because the chronic effects of the two conditions are so similar.
The researchers used electroencephalogram, or EEG, a test that measures electrical activity in the brain. The size and direction of the brainwaves can signal abnormalities.
Analyzing a large set of EEGs given to military personnel from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the researchers saw patterns of activity at different locations on the scalp for mTBI and PTSD. They saw brainwaves moving slowly in opposite directions, likely coming from separate places in the brain.
The researchers emphasize that these effects don’t pinpoint a region in the brain where the disorders differ. Rather, they show a pattern that distinguishes the disorders when the EEG results are averaged among a large group.
The study linked mTBI with increases in low-frequency waves, especially in the prefrontal and right temporal regions of the brain, and PTSD with decreases in low-frequency waves, notably in the right temporoparietal region.
The differences in the levels of the waves may explain some of the symptoms of the two disorders, suggesting a decline in responsiveness for someone with mTBI, for example, and more anxiety for someone with PTSD.
Laura Manning Franke, Ph.D., the study’s lead researcher and research psychologist at the Hunter Holmes McGuire VA Medical Center in Richmond, Virginia, noted that more low-frequency power has also been linked to cognitive disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease. Less low-frequency power has been linked to problems such as drug addiction.
Additionally, spotting distinct patterns of mTBI and PTSD in separate parts of the brain is key for two reasons: First, the possibility these conditions can be confused with each other is reduced. That can help improve diagnosis and treatment.
Second, the patterns show that electrical activity appears to be affected long after combat-related mTBI, suggesting long-term changes in neural communication, the signaling between cells in the nervous system.
“That could help, in part, explain the reason for persistent problems,” Franke said.
Despite the new findings, Franke and her team believe more work is needed to better explain the differences in the patterns of both conditions in the brain’s electrical activity.
Meanwhile, she said she hopes the research will play a role in helping medical professionals better diagnose someone’s condition through an individual EEG—whether that person has PTSD, a brain injury, or a combination of the two.
For more information, visit the VA’s webpages for PTSD (www.research.va.gov/topics/ptsd.cfm) and TBI (www.research.va.gov/topics/tbi.cfm).