A government-run medical school bought Siemens Healthcare's new hybrid PET-MR system to study better ways to diagnose brain injuries and post-traumatic stress disorder.

The Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences' Center for Neuroscience and Regenerative Medicine said last month it acquired the Siemens Biograph mMR, which the Food and Drug Administration cleared in June, making it the first simultaneous MRI and PET scanner released to the U.S. market.

The Bethesda, Md.-based university's neuroscience center was created as a joint project of the Department of Defense and the National Institutes of Health in order to treat veterans who sustained brain injuries while serving overseas or suffer from PTSD as a result of their service.

PTSD and TBI are linked with overlapping symptoms, and often are triggered by the same event -- say, a roadside bomb blast. These two conditions have taken a costly toll on U.S. forces serving in Afghanistan and Iraq. The government estimates brain injuries account for one-fifth of all U.S. combat casualties in those countries.