LSUHSC joins forces with White House to combat TBI/PTSD in military veterans

On Wednesday, as part of First Lady Michelle Obama’s Joining Forces initiative, LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans, the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), and the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine (AACOM) committed to creating a new generation of doctors, medical schools, and research facilities that will make sure the nation’s heroes receive the care worthy of their service. Recognizing veterans and their families’ sacrifice and commitment, LSUHSC pledged to mobilize its uniquely integrated missions in education, research and clinical care to train the nation’s physicians to meet veterans and their families’ unique healthcare needs, including Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI).

“We are honored to participate in the White House Joining Forces initiative to address the healthcare needs of military service members and veterans and their families,” said Dr. Larry Hollier, Chancellor of LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans.

“The program addresses both the biological and psychological wounds of war by targeting the three most pressing problems facing veterans – traumatic brain injury/post-concussion syndrome, post-traumatic stress disorder, and the effects of these conditions on veterans’ families,” Dr. Steve Nelson, Dean of the LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans School of Medicine, said.

“I’m inspired to see our nation’s medical schools step up to address this pressing need for our veterans and military families. By directing some of our brightest minds, our most cutting-edge research, and our finest teaching institutions toward our military families, they’re ensuring that those who have served our country receive the first-rate care that they have earned,” First Lady Michelle Obama said.

Together, LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans, the AAMC and AACOM are committing to enriching medical education along its continuum to ensure that physicians are aware of the unique clinical challenges and best practices associated with caring for this group; develop new research and clinical trials on PTSD and TBI so that we can better understand and treat these conditions; share their information and best practices with each other through a collaborative web forum created by the AAMC; and grow the body of knowledge leading to improvements in health care and wellness for our military service members, veterans, and their families.

LSUHSC Clinical Associate Professor Dr. Paul G. Harch, with First Lady Michelle Obama in Richmond for the announcement Wednesday, published the preliminary results of the LSU Pilot Trial of hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) in blast-induced traumatic brain injury and PTSD in November 2011 in the prestigious Journal of Neurotrauma.

The study demonstrated clinically and scientifically significant improvements in cognition and simultaneous reduction in symptoms of the post-concussion syndrome, PTSD, and depression.

These results reinforced a successful animal model of HBOT in chronic TBI published in Brain Research in 2007. Dr. Harch was awarded a $1.2 million government appropriation that will be used this year to further investigate HBOT in veteran TBI and PTSD.

Professor and Chairman of the LSUHSC Department of Psychiatry Dr. Howard Osofsky has developed a highly acclaimed and successful treatment program for PTSD. The program emanated from Dr. Osofsky’s work with post-Hurricane Katrina PTSD victims in New Orleans. Dr. Osofsky has refined and extended his treatment to veterans and their families and just completed a successful implementation of the program for PTSD-afflicted patients from the 2011 Japanese tsunami/nuclear disaster.

This article was originally published in the January 16, 2012 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper