6 promising advances to save soldiers' brains

From a helmet swallowed as a pill to binoculars that provide automatic eye exams, out-of-the-box thinking may help prevent traumatic brain injury in U.S. warfighters.

The mildest form of such injury, known as a concussion, is a problem familiar with sports fans. But military medical experts often refer to traumatic brain injury, or TBI, as the signature injury from Afghanistan and Iraq. In September, the departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs combined more than $100 million to fund two new consortia, one aimed partly at improving diagnosis and treatment of TBI.

Here are six promising TBI-related technologies they might consider, under development by U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command (USAMRMC).

Head gear in a pill?

Can neuroprotective drugs improve the outcome following acute brain trauma?

NNZ- 2566 is just such a pill.

According to USAMRMC and its partners, a fighter could swallow such a pill before the risk of head trauma even crops up. The drug would protect the neurological tissue in the event of a blow to the head.

Beyond protection from initial injury, a drug that could stimulate or improve neuronal healing and repair could also help reduce long-term damage.

An analog of a naturally occurring small-molecule neuro-protectant, it has been effect in numerous in vitro and in vivo models of brain injury, whether taken orally or intravenously.

NNZ- 2566 is currently being examined for safety and efficacy in a 260-patient Phase 2 clinical trial.

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6 promising advances to save soldiers' brains