PTSD leaves physical footprints on the brain

Rusty · #1 07-27-2008, 05:43 PM

Justin Berton, SFChronicle Staff Writer
Sunday, July 27, 2008

Dr. Thomas Neylan (left) and physicist Norbert Schuff are working with San Francisco's VA center to help detect and treat PTSD. Photo by Lance Iversen / The Chronicle

At a recent conference for some of the area's leading neurologists, San Francisco physicist Norbert Schuff captured his colleagues' attention when he presented colorful brain images of U.S. soldiers who had returned from Iraq and Afghanistan and were diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.

The yellow areas, Schuff explained during his presentation at the city's Veterans Affairs Medical Center, showed where the hippocampus, which plays major roles in short-term memory and emotions, had atrophied. The red swatches marked hyperfusion - increased blood flow - in the prefrontal cortex, the region responsible for conflict resolution and decision-making. Compared with a soldier without the affliction, the PTSD brain had lost 5 to 10 percent of its gray matter volume, indicating yet more neuron damage.

Schuff, who was dressed in a Hawaiian shirt just as colorful as the brain images he'd brought, reminded his colleagues that while his findings were preliminary and the trials ongoing, researchers were at least inching closer to finding the biological markers that distinguish a brain affected by PTSD. As the technology of brain imaging improves and the resulting data are refined, doctors believe that one day they will be able to look at a computer screen and see PTSD as clearly as they now see a brain tumor.

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Bring our men and women home NOW! I support our troops but not the war... this is just one of the reason's why.

motherof3 · #2 07-27-2008, 07:36 PM

Rusty, I agree 100%. Bring our troops home!

sequoya · #3 07-28-2008, 12:43 AM

I'd like to add that another more serious crime happening to our troops is caused by Halliburton, who is supposed to be treating the water, but isn't. The largest organ in the human body is the skin--hence, when you bathe in unclean water, you regularly expose yourself to pathogens that might take decades to take effect. How do you think the troops will feel when the gov't ignores their claims that their ailments were caused by unclean water? They won't even know to trace it back that far.
http://www.youtube.com/v/QeIxHQ-lkuM&hl=en&fs=1

motherof3 · #4 07-28-2008, 01:14 AM

Wow Sequoya, that was a powerful video. I'll have to pass it on to my best friend, both she and her husband served over seas and they still have friends that are over there. We need to bring our troops home, bottom line. Thank you again for sharing that.

Rusty · #5 07-28-2008, 06:46 AM

Thanks, sequoya, my heart goes out to the narrator... he feels like I do about our troops.

We really need to bring them home NOW.

sequoya · #6 07-28-2008, 03:33 PM

Ever hear of Agent Orange? Just the tip of the iceberg. Watch this 50 minute movie. I was in the USMC for 4 years, and got out just in time before the Gulf War. I remember how we were always reminded that we belonged to the gov't, but I had no idea that it went this far. DEPLETED URANIUM ALERT!

Correction: The above link is only the first part of the movie. This is only the first part. Part two is here:

Last edited by sequoya; 07-28-2008 at 05:10 PM..

Roogle · #7 07-28-2008, 03:36 PM

I've read a lot about DU in the ammo of weapons. That stuff is poisoning everyone. And it stays in the area for a very long time.

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PTSD leaves physical footprints on the brain

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