Boston University researchers may be closer to identifying CTE in living patients
BOSTON - Boston University researchers may be a step closer to diagnosing Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) in athletes while they're alive.
It is all part of cutting-edge research being done on living and deceased professional athletes who played contact sports.
"We quantified the amount of the protein that accumulates in CTE in a lot of different parts of the brain, and we also interviewed family members of the deceased brain donors," said Jesse Mez, senior co-author of this latest study at the BU CTE Center.
Mez and the team attempted to see if more of this protein build-up led to more severe symptoms or changes.
"We asked them questions about their loved one's cognition, their mood, their behavior, their impulsiveness and then we looked at the relation between the CTE pathology and these clinical outcomes," Mez said.
He said their research showed a clear connection between the two, which may allow them to build potential criteria for doctors to look for. Mez called this a step in the right direction while also admitting that, as with all neurodegenerative diseases, doctors can never be 100% sure until the person dies.
"Diagnoses is really important to be able to build therapies. If you can't make the diagnosis, you can't test the therapies," Mez said.
Their studies also showed a greater impact on memory and thought with less impact on behavioral issues like impulsivity or having a short fuse. These behavioral issues are typically associated with people suffering from CTE.
"We see this really strong relationship with cognition and function, but we only see a weaker relationship with behavioral disregulation," Mez said.
Mez said the best research will come from athletes they study alive who then donate their brains after they pass away. Ron Egloff will eventually be one of those people. He was a tight end for the Denver Broncos and played eight seasons in the NFL from the late '70s through the early '80s. He has been taking part in CTE studies at BU.
"Seeing what they are doing and the impact that they hope to have with this, if they want my brain, they can have it. I'm gone," said Egloff, "I know I got hit in the head, with a loud bang of the helmet, and my eyes actually crossed. Yeah, I had a lot of concussions."