A Sudden Influx of Donations to the Brain Bank: The Concussion Discussion Part II
On Thursday February 17, 2011, in the idyllic-sounding community of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida, former Chicago Bears safety Dave Duerson shot himself in the chest. He left behind a suicide note that read: “Please, see that my brain is given to the NFL’s brain bank.”
Duerson was 50 years old at the time of his death.
According to Ann McKee, the co-director of the Boston University School of Medicine Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy, the results of tests on Duerson’s brain revealed “classic pathology of CTE and no evidence of any other disease. He had severe involvement of areas that control judgment, inhibition, impulse control, mood and memory.” In spite of these cognitive deficiencies, it is not a grand leap to infer that Duerson had a great depth of insight into his condition or the arc his disease would follow in the future.
CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy) is a form of progressive, degenerative damage to the brain caused by repetitive closed head injuries (i.e. ‘blows to the head’). It is characterized by the buildup in the brain of an abnormal protein called tau which tends to form in clumps and disrupt brain function. CTE first came to public light after it was identified in the brain tissue of former Philadelphia Eagles player Andre Waters after his suicide in 2006. The CSTE Brain Bank was established in 2008 for the sole purpose of collecting and studying post-mortem brains, because there is no medical test that can detect CTE in a living person. The Brain Bank ultimately hopes to answer some of the critical questions about CTE. How many concussions does it take to cause CTE? Is CTE time-dependent? - is it the number of years of repeated blows that will determine who gets CTE and who doesn't? In 2009, McKee published a study indicating that of the 51 confirmed cases of CTE at the time, 90% of the cases occurred in athletes. If you have 10 minutes to spare today, watch this TIME video called "This is Your Brain on Football" in which McKee is featured.
Last Friday, 28 year old New York Rangers enforcer Derek Boogaard was found dead in his Minneapolis apartment. While details regarding the specific circumstances surrounding his death have been few, it spoke volumes that within 24 hours, Boogaard’s family had stepped forward to donate his brain to the Boston University School of Medicine.
Jennifer Hartman, guest blogger
* image courtesy of Microsoft
