Tag Archives: Department of Defense

Pentagon’s New Coding Rules Aim to Protect Warfighters

On January 23, 2026, the Department of Defense’s Traumatic Brain Injury Center of Excellence published updated ICD-10-CM coding guidance specifically for warfighter brain injuries. ICD-10-CM (International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision, Clinical Modification) is the standardized system doctors use to classify and record diagnoses. Without precise codes, injuries go miscounted and undertreated.

The new guidance is particularly critical now, as modern warfare inflicts unique brain hazards. Low-level blast overpressure from repeated weapons firing, extreme G-forces on pilots, and unexplained neurological incidents now have dedicated diagnostic codes, enabling better surveillance and resource allocation.

Just days earlier, on January 20, the Center released a research review revealing that mild TBI raises PTSD risk two- to threefold, findings that will shape military treatment protocols. Meanwhile, the Army’s baseline cognitive screening program, launched in August 2024, aims to assess every troop’s brain health proactively.

Internasal Exploration of Brain Injury Treatment

Zunveyl (benzgalantamine) tablets are used to treat Alzheimer’s, FDA-approved in July 2024. Through a $750,00 grant, awarded by the Department of Defense AMRMC, Army Medical Research and Material Command to Alpha Cognition, the manufacturer behind Zunveyl, has since been exploring its additional treatment possibilities. In a January 8, 2026 press release, CEO of Alpha Cognition CEO Michael McFadden stated, “We are exploring Zunveyl and its effect on cognitive impairment with mild Traumatic Brain Injury [for which there no current FDA-approved treatment].”

The scientific rationale behind Zunveyl, not as a tablet, but as an internasal formation, for brain injury centers on acetylcholine* disruption following a TBI. Studies have shown that this delivery system achieves 10-fold higher brain concentration compared to oral administration.

*Acetylcholine is a neurotransmitter that relays signals between nerves and muscles for voluntary movement, triggering muscle contraction at the neuromuscular junction; it also plays crucial roles in the brain for learning, memory, attention, and in the autonomic nervous system for functions like heart rate, digestion, and breathing, acting as both an excitatory and inhibitory messenger depending on the receptor

Federal Funding Advances “Holy Grail” of TBI Diagnosis

A Boston company developing a non-invasive way to detect dangerous brain swelling after traumatic brain injury has received $5.5 million in federal funding from the NIH Blueprint MedTech Program and Department of War’s Joint Warfighter Medical Research Program.

This new non-invasive technology, CranioSense, uses a forehead patch and clip-on sensors to detect elevated pressure without surgery and could transform TBI emergency care. Currently, measuring intracranial pressure – which if elevated can cause brain damage, coma, or death – requires drilling into the skull. This limits testing of brain swelling to only the most critical patients, meaning only approximately 2% of TBI patients ever have their brain pressure measured.

A retired U.S. Army Special Operations Command consultant called the new technology “a ‘Holy Grail’ of prolonged casualty care” that addresses “one of the biggest gaps in monitoring critical casualties.”

The December 2025 grants will support device development and validation ahead of FDA approval. If cleared, the system could make brain pressure assessment “as routine as blood pressure measurement” in emergency rooms, on battlefields, and at accident scenes – catching dangerous swelling early when intervention can save lives.