DALLAS — UT Southwestern Medical Center is searching for military veterans who may not want to talk openly about the injuries they suffered during war.
But through a survey study of the treatments they received, successful and otherwise, they hope involvement in an online survey might be able help fellow soldiers with a rarely discussed cost of military conflict.
"And those in Afghanistan and Iraq were largely IED blast-type injuries," said Dr. Steven J. Hudak, M.D., associate investigator, UT Southwestern Medical Center and UT Health San Antonio. "It's been very, very few people that have been interested in kind of telling their own story for obvious reasons."
Roadside bombs and anti-personnel mines create obvious injuries. Soldiers, with advanced life-saving measures, are often able to survive the loss of feet and legs.
Hudak and his team have tracked more than 1,500 such military injuries with the TOUGH Program, the Trauma Outcomes & Urogenital Health Project, male and female soldiers who have suffered serious urological and reproductive injuries, too.
"It's difficult for individual to talk about that in a public forum," said Hudak, who also served as an Army surgeon. "Even though those who have sustained these injuries may not talk about it openly, if we consider how such an injury might effect us personally I think it brings a very personal angle to it when we realize how important these sensitive functions are."
But as part of an ongoing study, he is searching for veterans who would be willing to consider visiting the TOUGH Program website. Veterans will be asked to fill out a survey, in the privacy of their own home, so that doctors can continue learning how to treat these all-to-common injuries better than they do now.
"Most importantly are there any care needs or gaps that the Department of Defense or the Veterans Administration has not been able to fill over the course of their care," Hudak said.
"And beyond that how any changes to these areas have affected their mental health and their overall quality of life."
The topic is personal. The topic is awkward to discuss.
But just like conversations on mental health, researchers hope these conversations can lead to better understanding, compassion, better treatment and help.
The Trauma Outcomes and Urogenital Health (TOUGH) Project is a Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program (CDMRP) funded research study.