The Use of the VOMS Tool With Military Personnel to Track mTBI Recovery and RTD Status

The Use of the VOMS Tool With Military Personnel to Track Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Recovery and Return to Duty Status

The purpose of the proposed project is to determine if the VOMS is an effective screening tool to identify and track recovery of vestibular and ocular motor impairment and symptoms following mTBI, that corpsman-level medical personnel can successfully implement in combat and non-combat environments. A second purpose of the project is to determine if impairment and symptoms on the VOMS is more pronounced following blast compared to blunt mTBI.

Vestibular impairment and symptoms are prevalent following mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) and may play a role in prolonged recovery. Researchers have indicated that ocular motor dysfunction and symptoms are common among personnel exposed to blast mTBI. In fact, researchers have suggested that vestibular and ocular motor outcomes such as VOR and vestibulo-spinal reflex (VSR) may be useful in identifying the effects of blast from blunt mTBI. There are currently no brief, clinical screening tools to identify vestibular/ocular motor impairment and symptoms in military personnel following mTBI. Our research team recently developed the Vestibular/Ocular Motor Screening (VOMS) tool to screen for vestibular/ocular motor impairment and symptoms following mTBI. Our preliminary research indicates that VOMS- a 5-min clinical screening tool that can be deployed by corpsman-level (i.e., Special Operation Combat Medics [SOCM], Special Forces Medical Sergeants [18D]) medical personnel with minimal training and materials- was nearly 90% accurate in identifying patients with mTBI from healthy controls. These preliminary findings suggest that VOMS may augment current clinical screening tools- such as the MACE- used by the U.S. Military. The proposed project addresses the "studies to develop standardized metrics for vestibular assessment and monitoring for return to duty" area in the Diagnostics subsection of the Hearing Loss/Dysfunction, Balance Disorder, and or Tinnitus section under the Clinical Trial Research Focus Area.

Inclusion Criteria:

• All Participants:

  • Military personnel;
  • Age 18-40 years;
  • Normal or corrected normal vision

• mTBI Participants:

  • Diagnosed with mTBI (blast, blunt, or combo) within past 7 days
  • Clear mechanism of injury
  • Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) = 13-15
  • Reported or observed signs (Loss of consciousness [LOC], amnesia, disorientation/confusion) at time of injury
  • Current reported symptoms and/or impairment (cognitive, balance, visual)

Exclusion Criteria:

• History of vestibular disorder;
• History of neurological disorder;
• History of previous moderate to severe TBI