CTE

courtesy of CBS a division of Viacom

Overview

Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) is a degenerative brain disease found in athletes, military veterans, and others with a history of repetitive brain trauma. Early symptoms of CTE usually appear in a patient’s late 20s or 30s, and affect a patient’s mood and behavior. Some common changes seen include impulse control problems, aggression, depression, and paranoia.

What Causes CTE?

Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) is a degenerative brain disease found in athletes, military veterans, and others with a history of repetitive brain trauma. Early symptoms of CTE usually appear in a patient’s late 20s or 30s, and affect a patient’s mood and behavior. Some common changes seen include impulse control problems, aggression, depression, and paranoia.

Who is Most at Risk for CTE?

Every person diagnosed with CTE has one thing in common: a history of repetitive hits to the head. CTE is most often found in contact sport athletes and military veterans, likely because these are some of the only roles in modern life that involve purposeful, repetitive hits to the head. CTE has been found in individuals whose primary exposure to head impacts was through tackle football (200+ cases confirmed at the VA-BU-CLF Brain Bank), the military (25+ cases), hockey (20+ cases), boxing (15+ cases, 50+ globally), rugby (5+ cases), soccer (5+ cases, 10+ globally), pro wrestling (5+ cases), and, in fewer than three cases each, baseball, basketball, intimate partner violence, and individuals with developmental disorders who engaged in head banging behaviors.

How is CTE diagnosed?

Currently, CTE can only be diagnosed after death through brain tissue analysis. Doctors with a specialty in brain diseases slice brain tissue and use special chemicals to make the Tau clumps visible. They then systematically search areas of the brain for Tau clumps with a unique pattern specific to CTE. The process can take several months to complete, and the analysis is not typically performed as a part of a normal autopsy. In fact, until recently there were relatively few doctors who knew how to diagnose CTE.

Courtesy of UCLA

What are the causes?

What treatments exist for CTE? Treating a disease that can’t be officially diagnosed until after death is difficult. Luckily there are lots of things that patients worried they have CTE can do to address their symptoms and find relief. Most treatments for CTE involve identifying the symptoms that are causing patients the most difficulty, and treating those symptoms with targeted therapies.

Mood changes
Mood changes, including depression, irritability, and anxiety, may be treated with cognitive behavioral therapy. Working with a cognitive behavioral therapist can help patients develop strategies that help them manage the particular mood symptoms that are causing the greatest problems.

Headaches
A variety of treatment options exist for headache, including craniosacral therapy, massage, acupuncture, or medications. Working with a doctor to determine the type of headache is helpful for determining the best treatment options.

Memory problems
Memory training exercises, including consistent note-taking strategies, can be helpful for continuing a patient’s activities of daily living, despite increasing difficulty with memory.