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Gulf War Syndrome Is Physical Brain Damage, Not Psychological
According to a study published this week in the journal Radiology, “abnormal hippocampal blood flow” can be measured in the brains of some ill Gulf War vets.
The findings mark a significant advancement in our understanding of the syndrome, which was for years written off by the Defense Department and the Department of Veterans Affairs as a form of combat stress rather than an objectively diagnosable injury. Dr. Robert Haley, chief epidemiologist at UT Southwestern, and a cadre of clinicians and researchers, have struggled with the government for some 18 years for research funding and to have the syndrome recognized as a legitimate war injury caused by chronic exposure to minimal amounts of sarin gas.
More at Dallas Observer Blogs.
6 Responses to “Gulf War Syndrome Is Physical Brain Damage, Not Psychological”
Tip from @jmproffitt who tweeted a Gawker link.
Very interesting.
I’m going to have to bring this to the attention of my cousin’s son, whom thinks he has it.
I wonder how this will change protocols in psychiatric diagnostics… and gov’t liability for agent orange, mustard gas exposure (in offspring and offspring of offspring of those exposed), burning crude and all else in war, but also in the huge chemical tank cleaning business
It doesn’t sound like the conclusion in the headline is supported all that strongly by this study. Differences in blood flow and brain receptors can be found in all kinds of psychological problems and even in ‘normal’ individuals with varying personalities, mood lability, etc.
Don’t get me wrong, I hope this is a step in the right direction to understand and help the vets- I just think that calling this ‘brain damage’ and stating that there’s this definitive proof of a link to sarin gas exposure sounds pretty weakly supported at this point (and overstating the conclusions is bound to lead to greater pushback against further research, or in some circles, tunnel vision to look down this particular path when it might not be the correct one.)
Basically you are right, CStanley. Of the three forms of Gulf War Syndrome studied, only two showed the changes in blood flow. As you said, other conditions including psychiatric ones can cause changes as well.
What the authors suggest in using the test as diagnostic for GWS which is way premature. Veterans should not be diagnosed based on this test.
The link to Sarin exposure is speculative and not addressed by this study.
The link to the study only provides an abstract and not full discussion, nor does it provide details of selection, number of veterans tested, or methods. The study needs to be replicated before giving it much credence.
Yeah, and it’s not like there are ‘before and after’ fMRIs on these individuals. I’m quite sure one could come up with a plausible hypothesis that the changes in this population could represent individual (perhaps genetic) differences in the brain’s response to stress. To prove or disprove that hypothesis, you’d have to have before and after studies to see if these individuals may have always had that abnormal response to the physostigmine.
As often happens, it seems like the problem with overinterpretation of the research study is happening in the media, not in the published study itself. The author does state that this may prove to be a useful diagnostic test but that kind of language is not at all unusual and trained readers know that this is just speculative, not conclusive.