---
title: "Psych News Alert: Veterans With Blast Injuries Show Signs of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy"
description: Blast exposure is associated with traumatic brain injury (TBI), neuropsychiatric symptoms, and long-term cognitive effects, reported Boston ...
image: https://alert.psychnews.org/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/soldierF_71440540-Jun-24-2025-04-33-05-2044-PM.jpg
---

 5/18/12 12:00 AM

# Veterans With Blast Injuries Show Signs of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy

![Picture of Psychiatric News Alert](https://alert.psychnews.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Psych%20News%20Email%20Banners/PN-Blue-Box_rgb.png?width=50&name=PN-Blue-Box_rgb.png) [ Psychiatric News Alert ](https://alert.psychnews.org/author/psychiatric-news-alert)

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Blast exposure is associated with traumatic brain injury (TBI), neuropsychiatric symptoms, and long-term cognitive effects, reported Boston University School of Medicine researchers in the May 16 *Science Translational Medicine*. After examining postmortem brains from U.S. military veterans exposed to blast and/or concussive injury, they found evidence of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a neurodegenerative disease, that was similar to the CTE neuropathology seen in young American football players and a professional wrestler with histories of concussive injuries.

The researchers developed a blast neurotrauma mouse model and used it to determine that head immobilization during blast exposure prevented blast-induced learning and memory deficits. “The contribution of blast wind to injurious head acceleration may be a primary injury mechanism leading to blast-related TBI and CTE,” they wrote. They said their results identify common pathogenic determinants leading to CTE in blast-exposed military veterans and head-injured athletes and provide evidence linking blast exposure to persistent impairments in neurophysiological function, learning, and memory.”

For more information about TBI, see the *Textbook of Traumatic Brain Injury, Second Edition*, available from American Psychiatric Publishing, [here](http://www.appi.org/SearchCenter/Pages/SearchDetail.aspx?ItemId=62357).

(Image: Aspen Photo/Shutterstock.com)

[traumatic brain injury](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/traumatic-brain-injury), [veterans](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/veterans), [TBI](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/tbi), [chronic traumatic encephalopathy](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/chronic-traumatic-encephalopathy), [veteran](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/veteran), [CTE](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/cte)

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