by FEDERICA NARANCIO

Photo by Goran Tomasevic/Reuters
Reflections of U.S soldiers are seen in a puddle of water as they guard their vehicles in front of an Afghan police station.

More than 60 percent of soldiers who were exposed to blasts in Iraq have some degree of brain injury, and researchers are concerned that post-traumatic epilepsy will greatly increase among war veterans, a medical expert recently told a Senate committee.

Brien J. Smith, director of the Comprehensive Epilepsy Program of the Henry Ford Hospital, stressed the need for more centers specializing in post-traumatic epilepsy to treat affected soldiers. He argued in support of legislation that would create six epilepsy centers.

The centers would be affiliated with accredited medical schools and would conduct research in neurology to prevent epilepsy as an outcome of traumatic brain injury.

Studies cited by Smith showed that 50 percent of U.S. Vietnam War veterans with penetrating brain injuries developed epilepsy within one to 15 years post-trauma. The medical expert said the incidence of post-traumatic epilepsy is expected to increase among Iraq War veterans since they are exposed to more harmful explosives.

“The common head trauma in Iraq is the result of a ‘shock wave’ effect of high pressure that reverberates through the body and head from an explosion like those from the improvised explosive devices, or IEDs,” Smith said.

This trend could put a whole new generation of homeless veterans on the streets unless they are given proper care. Approximately half of the nearly 400,000 veterans who will spend time being homeless in a given year suffer from some form of mental illness, according to the National Survey of Homeless Assistance Providers.

Michael Kussman, under secretary for health for the Veterans Health Administration, said the department does not support the creation of epilepsy centers.

“I am concerned that statutory mandates for ‘disease specific’ centers have the potential to fragment care in what is otherwise a well-designed, world-class integrated health care system,” Kussman said.

According to Kussman, epilepsy treatment requires an interdisciplinary approach.

“By mandating new education, research and clinical centers that are disease-specific, flexibility to respond to changing combinations of related conditions is reduced,” Kussman said.

Kussman said although some senators cite other centers that conduct specific research, such as the Mental Illness Research, Education and Clinical Center program, those centers “are not narrowly-focused on a disease process. They address a wide gamut of issues facing a significant portion of the veteran population.”

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., supports legislation that would create new epilepsy centers.

“Traumatic brain injury has been the signature of this war,” said a spokesperson for Murray. The spokesperson said it is necessary to anticipate the increase of epilepsy among Iraq War veterans.