CTE (Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy) is a neurodegenerative disorder that is found in individuals that have recieved multiple brain injuries.These injuries can ranged from minor to significant. It has been found to affect individuals that have participated in contact sports such as American Football, MMA, Boxing, and Soccer as well as soldiers that have been exposed to blasts from IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices). CTE can affect individuals as young a middle school aged and can be triggered by insignificant head trauma. The pathology of CTE manifests in four steps...
Stage 1: Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), confusion, dizziness, headaches
Stage 2: Memory loss, anxiety, impulsive behavior, poor judgement
Stage 3: Vertigo, movement disorders, speech impediments
Stage 4: Dementia, depression, deafness, suicidality
Normally, an individual must be deceased before that can be properly diagnosed with CTE. A biopsy of their brain tissue must be performed and PET image must be obtained. However, there have been breakthroughs in CTE diagnosis and research. Analysis of cerebrospinal fluid proteins and plasma are potential alternatives to standard detection methods. CCL11 (a protein coded by genes on chromosome 17) may be a potential biomarker for individuals with CTE, Alzheimer's Disease, and other neurodegenerative diseases. CLL11 is a protein that is associated with age-related cognitive degeneration and it has been observed in the brains of individuals with CTE and Alzheimer's. Elevated levels of CCLL11 can be found in their CSF and plasma, and these levels could be used to diagnose indivduals with these diseases. These tests could be used to diagnosed athletes who currently play in these sports, and when faced with the risks of acquiring CTE may decide to end their careers prematurely.
Sources:
http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0185541
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4249716/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronic_traumatic_encephalopathy
Loved your post! I have heard multiple reports in the news about CTE and I believe they did a movie about it! Your post taught me a lot more and the different stages I had no idea about, great post!
ReplyDeleteI am also very curious to see how this research will effect the future of sports. It would be incredible to see this research and Alzheimer's treatment research come together sometime in the near future so that this and other mental deterioration diseases can be diagnosed early and treated.
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ReplyDeleteCool post! This is the second time I'm hearing of CTE (first being during the Aaron Hernandez case). Now that you have mentioned that there is a correlation between CTE and Alzheimer's disease in former athletes I'm beginning to realize that many former athletes (like Mohammad Ali) who suffered from Alzheimer disease most likely had CTE as well. Hopefully being able to detect CTE early on will decrease the severity of health complications experienced by former athletes in their old age.
ReplyDeleteI have heard multiple news stories about CTE, but didn't really know much about it. Hopefully any research behind this will further help any current and future athletes. Great post!
ReplyDeleteI think it is awesome how the person no longer has to be deceased for a test to be done to see if they have CTE. The advances in science are making it a lot easier to detect diseases and issues sooner which usually helps the patient in the long run. I didn't know that CTE had such crazy and serious side effects. It was very intriguing.
ReplyDeleteI knew about the brain injuries caused by multiple hits to the head, and I knew that these brain injuries were prominent in football athletes. What I didn't know was the name of the specific disorder and how extensive these injuries could get. This post actually taught me a lot out CTE, and I think you did a fantastic job.
ReplyDeleteHonestly I was a little sad when I read the sentence stating " an individual must be deceased before that can be properly diagnosed with CTE". I kept reading and its awesome that there are advances being done in this area. Great post, I learned a lot!
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