‘It can save lives’: Veteran with TBI hopes new UVA study can find and treat hidden blast injuries

CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, Va. (WRIC) — For many service members, like Timothy Grossman, years of combat exposure can lead to invisible brain injuries that go undiagnosed. Now, a research study backed by a multi-million dollar grant is using cutting-edge MRI technology at UVA to see those hidden scars.

Grossman, a Indirect Fire Infantryman combat veteran, knows the invisible cost of these injuries firsthand. During his deployments in Balkans and Iraq, the constant, low to high-level shockwaves from firing thousands of mortar rounds were simply part of the job.

"I was kind of ambitious as a young soldier, I became a gunner really quick. By the time I was a PFC, I was a gunner. So my head was just inches from that tube as we were firing, just maybe six inches," Grossman said. "You become disoriented and you keep that all to yourself because everyone's probably going through it."

Grossman, who was later diagnosed with traumatic brain injury and PTSD, said the cumulative effect of those blasts has left him with symptoms like stuttering and brain fog. Those invisible injuries create frustration.

"There's so many stories where people have fallen through the cracks and their wives don't understand, you know, their family members understand," Grossman said. "They feel like it's their fault. And these guys end up taking their lives.” 

That need is the driving force behind a new research study at UVA Health launching in November.

(Photo credit: Jakobi Davis)

(Photo credit: Jakobi Davis, MRI camera)

Leading the effort is Dr. James Stone, UVA Health radiologist and Vice Chair of Research in Radiology and Medical Imaging. In partnership with the Naval Medical Research Command, his team is using a brand-new, high-resolution MRI scanner, recently installed at UVA’s Fontaine Research Park, to test whether the technology can finally identify microscopic, blast-related scarring in the brains of 60 service members.

“Are there specific signatures of changes within the brain that we can see with commercial MRI scanners that will allow us to be able to understand if a service members brain has been altered as a result of a blast, and to what degree?" Dr. Stone said.

The three-year study, backed by a $2.3 million dollar U.S. Department of Defense Grant, will focus on the delicate interface between the gray and white matter -- an area of the brain historically difficult to image.

Combining scans with cognitive assessments and blood tests, all of this data is layered with a new metric called the 'Generalized Blast Exposure Value' -- a single number that charts a service member's lifetime exposure.

Dr. Stone explaining how the MRI scan works

“An individual who has a generalized blast exposure value of say, 10,000 or 5000, that's a pretty low number. We see exposure values that go up to 20 million or more," said Dr. Stone.

For veterans like Grossman, the study hopes to better diagnose service members with blast-related brain injuries whose routine brain imaging scans comes back normal, guide the development of new treatments and determine what level of blast exposure is unsafe for military personnel.

“This work will inform a better understanding of what's going on within the brains of service members who are exposed to blast, so we can design and innovate better therapies to be able to treat service members that have this condition," said Dr. Stone. "I'm very hopeful that this work will make a real difference."

Grossman now dedicates his time to veteran advocacy and serves on the community advisory board for this very research.

“What this could have done is saved a lot of lives. If we do this and do this right, it can save people from, you know, thinking that they're worthless and that they have no hope," Grossman said. “What they're doing is, is, is truly remarkable.”

The UVA team is currently in the regulatory phase, finalizing all necessary approvals for subject engagement. Once approved, they will begin enrolling the total of 60 subjects in the research study.