As news of another NFL player having chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, some may wonder what the condition is, why so many sports stars end up having it, and what, if anything, can be done to treat or prevent the condition.
What is CTE?
According to Harvard Medical School, CTE “is a rare form of brain damage that can result from repeated head injuries.”
A person does not have to have a concussion either. It could be a type of traumatic brain injury or TBI, CTE is progressive and will affect how the brain works and could lead to dementia.
An occasional head injury typically doesn’t lead to CTE but repeated head impacts could cause the condition.
When was CTE discovered?
It was first identified in boxers back in the 1920s and was called “punch-drunk syndrome”
The first football player who had CTE was the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Mike Webster, who died in 2002. He was only 50 years old but had several years before his death of what was considered bizarre behavior, according to Harvard Medical School. The behavior was, in reality, dementia. An autopsy showed a specific type of brain damage causing his dementia.
How is CTE caused?
Again, CTE is caused by repeated blows to the head. Those hits injure the brain’s cells and blood vessels, causing microscopic bleeding and abnormal protein deposits, called tangles, which kill brain cells.
Most people who end up with CTE have had hundreds, if not thousands, of head impacts from contact sports such as football, boxing, rugby, hockey, or lacrosse. It also affects people in the military who are near repeated blasts and people who have been victims of domestic abuse.
It may occur with second impact syndrome, when a second brain injury occurs before the first has fully healed, the Mayo Clinic said.
People as young as 17 have been diagnosed with CTE after their deaths, but the signs of the disease don’t typically appear until years after the initial injuries happened, according to the Concussion & CTE Foundation.
About 17% of people with repeated head injuries will develop CTE, but it is not known why some people with repeated head blows develop it and others don’t.
Symptoms of CTE
Harvard Medical School says the symptoms of CTE include:
- memory loss
- problems with attention and concentration
- mood disturbances like anxiety, aggression, and depression
- suicidal thoughts
- impulsive or erratic behavior
- impaired judgment
- poor muscle coordination
Diagnosing, treating and researching
The only definitive way to diagnose CTE is after someone dies, and an autopsy is performed.
It is difficult to determine CTE before death because the symptoms are the same as those of other conditions, such as Alzheimer’s or even normal aging.
It is hoped that imaging, such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or positron emission tomography (PET) scans, may help pinpoint CET indicators.
Doctors now make a tentative diagnosis of the condition based on a person’s history, symptoms, neurological exams, and brain imaging, trying to rule out other conditions.
There is no way to reverse the damage done that causes CTE, but some medications can be used to treat symptoms such as memory loss, mood changes and behavior changes, according to Harvard.
Instead, prevention is key, and experts are looking at the amount of force applied to the head in some sports. They’ve also increased the penalties for blows to the head in football.
Gear is also being reengineered to help prevent injuries.
Finally, more research into the condition, specifically examining brain tissue, is ongoing. More than 1,000 brains have been donated to the UNITE Brain Bank at Boston University, a tissue repository that is dedicated to TBI and CTE research. The Brain Bank has 70% of global CTE cases.
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