Faculty Bibliography

OBJECTIVES: Units deployed to armed conflicts are at high risk for exposure to combat events. Many battle casualties (BCs) have been reported in the recent deployment to Afghanistan. The long-term impact of these combat injuries, at their five-year end point, is currently unknown. To date, no systematic inventory has been performed of an identified group of BCs in comparison to non-injured service members from the same operational theatre. DESIGN: Observational cross-sectional cohort study. SETTING: Open online survey among Dutch BCs that deployed to Afghanistan (2006-2010). PARTICIPANTS: The Dutch BCs (n = 62) were compared to two control groups of non-injured combat groups (battle exposed [n = 53], and non-battle exposed [n = 73]). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Participants rated their impact of trauma exposure (Impact of Events [IES]), post deployment reintegration (Post Deployment Reintegration Scale [PDRS]), general symptoms of distress (Symptom Checklist 90 [SCL-90]), as well as their current perceived quality of life (EuroQol-6D [EQ-6D]). Also cost effectiveness (Short From health survey [SF-36]) and care consumption were assessed (Trimbos/iMTA questionnaire). RESULTS: Over 90% of BCs were still in active duty. The mean scores of all questionnaires (IES, EQ-6D, SF-36, and SCL-90) of the BC group were significantly higher than in the control groups (p<0.05). The PDRS showed a significantly lower (p<0.05) outcome in the negative subscales. The mean consumption of care was triple that of both control groups. A lower score on quality of life was related to higher levels of distress and impact of trauma exposure. CONCLUSIONS: This study showed a clear long-term impact on a wide range of scales that contributes to a reduced quality of life in a group of BCs. Low perceived cost effectiveness matched with high consumption of care in the BC group in comparison to the control groups. These results warrant continuous monitoring of BCs.

Several lines of research have demonstrated that memories for fearful events become transiently labile upon re-exposure. Activation of molecular mechanisms is required in order to maintain retrieved information. This process is called reconsolidation. Targeting reconsolidation - as in exposure-based psychotherapy - offers therefore a potentially interesting tool to manipulate fear memories, and subsequently to treat disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In this paper we discuss the evidence for reconsolidation in rodents and humans and highlight recent studies in which clinical research on normal and abnormal fear extinction reduction of the expression of fear was obtained by targeting the process of reconsolidation. We conclude that reconsolidation presents an interesting opportunity to modify or alter fear and fear-related memories. More clinical research on normal and abnormal fear extinction is required.

BACKGROUND: The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) coalition forces remain heavily committed on combat operations overseas. Understanding the prevalence and characteristics of battlefield injury of coalition partners is vital to combat casualty care performance improvement. The aim of this systematic review was to evaluate the prevalence and characteristics of battle casualties from NATO coalition partners in Iraq and Afghanistan. The primary outcome was mechanism of injury and the secondary outcome anatomical distribution of wounds. METHODS: This systematic review was performed based on all cohort studies concerning prevalence and characteristics of battlefield injury of coalition forces from Iraq and Afghanistan up to December 20th 2013. Studies were rated on the level of evidence provided according to criteria by the Centre for Evidence Based Medicine in Oxford. The methodological quality of observational comparative studies was assessed by the modified Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. RESULTS: Eight published articles, encompassing a total of n=19,750 battle casualties, were systematically analyzed to achieve a summated outcome. There was heterogeneity among the included studies and there were major differences in inclusion and exclusion criteria regarding the target population among the included trials, introducing bias. The overall distribution in mechanism of injury was 18% gunshot wounds, 72% explosions and other 10%. The overall anatomical distribution of wounds was head and neck 31%, truncal 27%, extremity 39% and other 3%. CONCLUSIONS: The mechanism of injury and anatomical distribution of wounds observed in the published articles by NATO coalition partners regarding Iraq and Afghanistan differ from previous campaigns. There was a significant increase in the use of explosive mechanisms and a significant increase in the head and neck region compared with previous wars.

INTRODUCTION: Care for battle casualties demands special skills from surgeons and anesthesiologists. The experiences of Dutch military surgeons and anesthesiologists that deployed to South Afghanistan provided an opportunity to evaluate predeployment training and preparation of military medical specialists. METHOD: A survey was conducted among all surgeons and anesthesiologists (n = 40) that deployed to South Afghanistan between February 2006 and November 2010. They were asked about their medical preparedness, deployment experience, and postdeployment impact. RESULTS: Most (35/40) participants reported high levels of preparedness before their deployment. All (40/40) surgeons and anesthesiologists described a positive influence of their deployment on their professional skills and 33/40 described a positive effect on their personal development. Knowledge of maxillofacial, ophthalmic, neurological, urological, gynecological, vascular, and thoracic surgery scored below average. Impact on mental health and social support network was reported as negative by 11/40 participants, 24/40 reported a neutral, and 5/40 a positive effect. CONCLUSION: A standardized predeployment training program to prepare Dutch surgeons and anesthesiologists for combat surgery is currently lacking. These results emphasize the need for a standardized predeployment medical training, despite high levels of perceived preparedness. Also, the high mental and psychological impact on the deployed surgeons and anesthesiologists warrants further assessment.

Alterations in the number and functional status of mineralocorticoid (MR) and glucocorticoid receptors (GR) may contribute to vulnerability to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Corticosteroid receptors are chaperoned by heat shock proteins Hsp90 and Hsp70. We examined relations between corticosteroid receptor and heat shock protein expression levels, and related them with war trauma exposure, PTSD and resilience to PTSD. Relative levels of MR, Hsp90 and Hsp70 were determined by immunoblotting in lymphocytes from war trauma-exposed men with current PTSD (current PTSD group, n=113), with life-time PTSD (life-time PTSD group, n=61) and without PTSD (trauma control group, n=88), and from non-traumatized healthy controls (healthy control group, n=85). Between-group differences in MR, Hsp90 and Hsp70 levels and in MR/GR ratio were not observed. The level of MR was correlated with both Hsp90 and Hsp70 levels in trauma control and healthy control groups. On the other hand, GR level was correlated only with Hsp90 level, and this correlation was evident in current PTSD and trauma control groups. In conclusion, PTSD and exposure to trauma are not related to changes in lymphocyte MR, Hsp90 or Hsp70 levels, but may be associated with disturbances in corticosteroid receptors interaction with heat shock proteins.

Psychological trauma can have devastating consequences on emotion regulatory capacities and lead to dissociative processes that provide subjective detachment from overwhelming emotional experience during and in the aftermath of trauma. Dissociation is a complex phenomenon that comprises a host of symptoms and factors, including depersonalization, derealization, time distortion, dissociative flashbacks, and alterations in the perception of the self. Dissociation occurs in up to two thirds of patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD). The neurobiology of traumatic dissociation has demonstrated a heterogeneity in posttraumatic stress symptoms that, over time, can result in different types of dysregulated emotional states. This review links the concepts of trauma and dissociation to BPD by illustrating different forms of emotional dysregulation and their clinical relevance to patients with BPD.

BACKGROUND: For years there has been a tremendous gap in our understanding of the mental health effects of deployment and the efforts by military forces at trying to minimize or mitigate these. Many military forces have recently systematized the mental support that is provided to support operational deployments. However, the rationale for doing so and the consequential allocation of resources are felt to vary considerably across North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) International Security Assistance (ISAF) partners. This review aims to compare the organization and practice of mental support by five partnering countries in the recent deployment in Afghanistan in order to identify and compare the key methods and structures for delivering mental health support, describe bottlenecks and illustrate new developments. METHOD: Information was collected through document analysis and semi-structured interviews with key military mental healthcare stakeholders. The review resulted from close collaboration between key military mental healthcare professionals within the Australian Defense Forces (ADF), Canadian Armed Forces (CAF), United Kingdom Armed Forces (UK), Netherlands Armed Forces (NLD), and the United States Army (US). Key stakeholders were interviewed about the mental health support provided during a serviceperson's military career. The main items discussed were training, prevention, early identification, intervention, and aftercare in the field of mental health. RESULTS: All forces reported that much attention was paid to mental health during the individual's military career, including deployment. In doing so there was much overlap between the rationale and applied methods. The main method of providing support was through training and education. The educative focus was to strengthen the mental resilience of individual soldiers while providing a range of mental healthcare services. All forces had abandoned standard psychological debriefing after critical incidents. Instead, by default, mental healthcare professionals acted to support the leader and peer led "after action" reviews. All countries provided professional mental support close to the front line, aimed at early detection and early return to normal activities within the unit. All countries deployed a mental health support team that consisted of a range of mental health staff including psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, mental health nurses, and chaplains. There was no overall consensus in the allocation of mental health disciplines in theatre. All countries (except the US) provided troops with a third location decompression (TLD) stop after deployment, which aimed to recognize what the deployed units had been through and to prepare them for transition home. The US conducted in-garrison 'decompression', or 'reintegration training' in the US, with a similiar focus to TLD. All had a reasonably comparable infrastructure in the field of mental healthcare. Shared bottlenecks across countries included perceived stigma and barriers to care around mental health problems as well as the need for improving the awareness and recognition of mental health problems among service members. CONCLUSION: This analysis demonstrated that in all five partners state-of-the-art preventative mental healthcare was included in the last deployment in Afghanistan, including a positive approach towards strengthening the mental resilience, a focus on self-regulatory skills and self-empowerment, and several initiatives that were well-integrated in a military context. These initiatives were partly/completely implemented by the military/colleagues/supervisors and applicable during several phases of the deployment cycle. Important new developments in operational mental health support are recognition of the role of social leadership and enhancement of operational peer support. This requires awareness of mental problems that will contribute to reduction of the barriers to care in case of problems. Finally, comparing mental health support services across countries can contribute to optimal preparation for the challenges of military deployment.

BACKGROUND: Military deployment to combat zones puts military personnel to a number of physical and mental challenges that may adversely affect mental health. Until now, few studies have been performed in Europe on mental health utilization after military deployment. OBJECTIVE: We compared the incidence of mental health consultations with the Military Mental Health Service (MMHS) of military deployed to Afghanistan to that of non-deployed military personnel. METHOD: We assessed utilization of the MMHS by the full cohort of the Netherlands Armed Forces enlisted between 2008 and 2010 through linkage of mental health and human resource information systems. RESULTS: The total population consisted of 50,508 military (18,233 deployed, 32,275 non-deployed), who accounted for 1,906 new consultations with the MMHS. The follow-up was limited to the first 2 years following deployment. We observed higher mental health care utilization in deployed vs. non-deployed military personnel; hazard ratio (HR), adjusted for sex, military branch and time in service, 1.84 [95% CI 1.61-2.11] in the first and 1.28 [1.09-1.49] in the second year after deployment. An increased risk of adjustment disorders (HR 2.59 [2.02-3.32] and 1.74 [1.30-2.32]) and of anxiety disorders (2.22 [1.52-3.25] and 2.28 [1.50-3.45]) including posttraumatic stress disorder (5.15 [2.55-10.40] and 5.28 [2.42-11.50]), but not of mood disorders (1.33 [0.90-1.97] and 1.11 [0.68-1.82]), was observed in deployed personnel in the first- and second-year post-deployment, respectively. Military personnel deployed in a unit with a higher risk of confrontation with potentially traumatic events had a higher HR (2.13 [1.84-2.47] and 1.40 [1.18-1.67]). CONCLUSIONS: Though absolute risk was low, in the first and second year following deployment to Afghanistan there was an 80 and 30% higher risk for mental health problems resulting in a consultation with the Dutch MMHS compared to military never deployed to Afghanistan. These observations underscore the need for an adequate mental health infrastructure for those returning from deployment.