A Boston University study has moved researchers closer to being able to diagnose one type of traumatic brain injury in living patients, reports the Boston Herald. Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, or CTE, is a disorder caused by repeated head trauma that first made headlines when several famous NFL players were diagnosed after their deaths. The disorder received additional headlines in 2015 with an Eclipse Award-winning Paulick Report feature about the dangers of multiple concussions for jockeys.
CTE can only be confirmed after a patient's death, but sufferers report dramatic mood shifts, cognition problems, and loss of coordination.
The new study utilized MRI scans of 55 deceased brain donors with CTE and 31 healthy brains, and showed that those with CTE had shrinkage of the brain in regions like the frontal lobe, temporal lobe and other structures such as the hippocampus, which has a major role in learning and memory.
Dr. Jesse Mez, study co-author, director of the Boston University Alzheimer's Disease Center, and a BU CTE Center investigator, explained that MRI might be able to be used to diagnose CTE in living patients. Diagnoses are vital for the development of treatments for the disorder.
“The only way we can develop a treatment is if we can diagnose it in life and have people with the diagnosis try the treatments,” said Dr. Mez.
A follow-up story in the Paulick Report in 2020 showed that the U.S. racing industry is still struggling with implementation of concussion protocols, and that some states have made more progress than others.
Read more about the Boston University CTE study at the Boston Herald.
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