A 40+ Year Post-Injury Follow-Up Study of Vietnam Veterans Who Sustained Traumatic Brain Injury While in Combat.

The VHIS - Phase III evaluation to be conducted approximately 30 years post-injury will be devoted to examining, cutting-edge cognitive neuroscience issues and will utilize state of the art technologies to address basic research questions in the following areas: (1) Functions of the human prefrontal cortex; (2) Cognitive neuroplasticity in the aging brain; (3) Memory; (4) Long-term behavioral and psychosocial outcome; and (5) Neurological studies, including an evaluation of post-traumatic epilepsy and repeat clinical measures from Phase - II. This testing will be complemented with structural neuroimaging, electroencephalogram (EEG) and molecular genetics. The goals of the VHIS - Phase III include providing clinicians and scientists new insights into the long term recovery of function following brain injury, the role of the prefrontal cortex in executive functions, better predictors of long term outcome (including cognitive, neurological, and genetic factors), and the effects of head injury incurred in youth on aging and the development of dementia.