Concussions are a serious concern in contact sports, but the thinking has long been that if you avoid them, you are good to go. Many researchers have long suspected, however, that you do not need to suffer a concussion to develop Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE), a progressive, degenerative brain disease that results in memory loss, confusion, impaired judgement, impulse control problems, depression and, eventually, dementia. Today, the Boston University CTE Center put forward proof of that.
This is the first time researchers have found that CTE can be caused by “repetitive trauma and even a single traumatic injury to the brain,” Dr. Ann McKee, director of the BU CTE Center, told Jim Braude when she joined him on Greater Boston.
The study examined the brains of four athletes who died at ages 17 and 18 within months of sport-related head injuries that were not serious enough to be diagnosed concussions. In all four cases, researchers found brain changes that could be indicators of CTE, some of which started as soon as 24 hours after the injury.
Over the past decade, McKee has examined hundreds of brains for signs of CTE. Her team published findings last year that showed that 110 out of 111 deceased NFL players' brains they examined had signs of the disease. The CTE Center is also finding similar patterns in other populations. Of the 102 brains of military veterans McKee has examined, more than half had CTE.
“But it isn't even just the military veterans, it's also victims of domestic abuse, it's kids who get abused, it's even our prison system,” McKee said. “It's the little hits that happen in a lot of different areas of life that can cause this problem.”
One of the CTE Center’s short-term goals is to find a way to diagnose the disease in living patients. And they’re making progress.
“We're getting closer every day,” said McKee, whose team discovered a protein that looks different in brains that have CTE last fall. “I want to be able to diagnose this during life, and more importantly, I want to be able to take care, good care of the people that are suffering from this."
While research is advancing, McKee said the game of football still has a long way to go and that she looks forward to a day when, hopefully, her studies are taken seriously by the sport.
“I don’t know if [the time] will ever come,” she said. “I see the tragic lives. I deal with it every day. I see kids cut down in the prime of their life … I think most parents want their kids to live the longest, healthiest, most productive life they can; and that means having a healthy brain.”
"The choice to play football is a choice," she added. "There are lots of other sports out there.”
While McKee does not think football should be banned, she explained that a safe version of the game would be drastically different from the game we know today.
“I would prefer that it's very different than the game we're playing,” she said. “It means taking out the hits, the head contact ... making it much more of a passing and throwing game without the collision, without the tackling .... even for adults."
To watch the full interview with Dr. Ann McKee, click on the video link above. This post has been updated with more details.
