In what could be a breakthrough development in the detection and treatment of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, researchers have announced that they have confirmed the existence of the neurodegenerative disease in a patient whose brain they had scanned four years previously. If further testing bolsters that confirmation, reliable tests for CTE might be performed on people while they are still alive, as opposed to posthumously. The unidentified subject was described as a 12-year veteran of the NFL, who became just the latest former football player to have been diagnosed after his death with CTE. The disease was first linked to football in 2002 by neuropathologist Bennet Omalu, and it is thought to result from repeated concussive and sub-concussive impacts. Read more:New breakthrough may lead to ability to diagnose CTE in living football players

Source: thestar November 16, 2017 20:37 UTC