By Shelly Reese
SmartHealthToday
Researchers are working hard to better understand chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), the degenerative brain disease found in many former NFL players.
Last week, the family of football legendary Ken Stabler, best known for his nine-year stint as quarterback of the Oakland Raiders in the 1970s, revealed that an analysis of his brain by the Boston University CTE Center showed he suffered from the brain disease at the time of his death. Stabler died of colon cancer in July. To date, 90 of the 94 former NFL players whose brains have been examined by Boston University have had CTE.
CTE is a progressive degenerative disease of the brain found in athletes and individuals with a history of repetitive brain trauma, such as football players and boxers. The trauma triggers progressive degeneration of the brain tissue, including the build-up of an abnormal protein called tau. Symptoms, which often don’t manifest themselves until years or decades after the trauma has ended, include memory loss, confusion, impaired judgment, impulse control problems, aggression, depression, and, eventually, progressive dementia.
“I think there were a lot of days when he couldn’t get away from the sound in his head and headaches became just a constant event for him,” Stabler’s partner Kim Bush said in a video posted by the Times. ”He grit his teeth so bad that he literally broke a bridge.”
Dr. Ann McKee, professor of neurology and pathology at Boston University Medical Center, who diagnosed Stabler’s CTE, said his brain showed “substantial,” “widespread,” and “classic” lesions,” indicative of CTE and consistent with the memory problems, headaches and disorientation he experienced.
Although CTE may resemble Alzheimer’s disease, they are clinically different and often manifest themselves differently. Symptoms of CTE generally present earlier than those of Alzheimer’s – in a person’s 40s, rather than their 60s. What’s more, the initial symptoms of CTE generally involve problems with judgment, reasoning, problem solving, impulse control and aggression, while memory problems generally characterize the onset of Alzheimer’s.
Researchers are working to find a way to diagnose CTE while a person is still alive; currently the condition can only be diagnosed after death by analyzing the brain.
To learn more about sports-related concussions, contact Dr. Michael Miller, the regional expert in head trauma.
From SmartHealthToday, a service of St. Elizabeth Healthcare.