The VA https://www.research.va.gov and the Department of Defense https://www.defense.mil launched an ambitious project called the “Long-term Impact of Military Relevant Brain Injury Consortium (LIMBIC) to study mild Traumatic Brain Injuries (mild TBI).
The consortium will be led by a team at Virginia Commonwealth University and the Hunter Holmes McGuire VA Medical Center in Richmond. Lead investigator is Dr. David X. Cifu, Professor at VCU and Senior TBI Specialist for the VA.
The LIMBIC extends the work of a previous collaborative effort known as the Chronic Effects of Neurotrauma Consortium (CENC). Researchers with CENC and now with LIMBIC have already documented links between combat concussions and dementia, Parkinson’s disease, chronic pain, opioid usage, and suicide risk. They have also developed specialized diagnostic tests using questionnaires, physical exams, brain imaging, fluid biomarkers, and electrophysiology to probe how the brain recovers from injury.
The VA and the DOD are going to fund $50 million ($25 million from VA and $25 million from DOD) to study the long-term effects on veterans and service members resulting from mild TBIs. They will also support a consortium to include researchers and resources from not only DOD and the VA but also include researchers from NIH, universities, and nonprofits.
LIMBIC is centered on increasing the number of participants to do a long term study of 3,000 to 5,000 individuals where 89% have had at least one mild TBI. The other 20% of the study participants who also have experienced combat but are concussion-free, will serve as the control group.
Another core element is to develop an epidemiological database of military and VA health records, disability assessments, and include all other administrative information on more than two million veterans and service members from U.S. conflicts and wars.
Go to https://www.research.va.gov/topics/tbi.cfm for more information on research on TBI at the VA and/or go to the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center at https://dubic.dcoe.mil/tbi-military.