CTE head trauma: Study volunteers solicited

By Ed Piper

A new development in the study of CTE, which causes head trauma, aging of the brain, and potentially premature death, has occurred, as reported in an article published this week.

This space previously has looked into the potentially disastrous effects of CTE, or chronic traumatic encephalopathy, on the brains of young football players, youth soccer players, and NFL football veterans, over the past couple of years.

Any mother of a young boy considering playing youth football has to consider the potential damage that CTE could cause her son from repeated blows, collisions, concussions, and the rattling of the sensitive brain inside the cage that the skull forms around the brain.

Until now, the only way we could measure the advancement of CTE--which leaves a "black tar" effect in brain scans--was on deceased persons whose families allowed their loved ones' brains to be scanned.

But now, with this new initiative, sponsors of a study of living persons and their CTE quotient are asking for volunteers so that biomarkers can be recorded and further progress in the study and understanding of the effects of CTE can be made.

Making the news was the fact Matt Hasselbeck, 49, former quarterback for the Seattle Seahawks and an 18-year NFL veteran, is a volunteer for the study. He encouraged other former players to volunteer, stating, "I encourage former college and pro football players age 50 and over to join me in signing up for the study to help researchers learn how to diagnose and treat CTE."

Hasselbeck, who played in college at Boston College, said further, "...I am blessed to be feeling healthy... I'm choosing to volunteer for DIAGNOSE CTE II to honor my teammates, especially those who blocked for me and took hits to the head, so I didn't have to."

CTE has been linked to memory loss, trouble with problem-solving, aggression, poor impulse control, and slow movement. Can you imagine the impact when doctors can diagnose the advancement of CTE in a person who is living, via brain scans and blood levels? It would be a game-changer in the face of the NFL's repeated claims in the past that playing football has no connection to CTE.

Our very own Junior Seau was diagnosed with CTE after his suicide following long periods of depression. (He made a point of shooting himself in the chest, so that his brain would be preserved). Other big names with CTE included Kenny Stabler, Hall of Fame Raiders QB, and Frank Gifford. Mike Webster, a Hall of Fame center for the "Steel Curtain" Pittsburgh Steelers, was the first NFL player diagnosed with chronic traumatic encephalopathy.

The National Institutes of Health have awarded $15 million to Boston University CTE Center researchers for the study.

A big question has always been why some individuals with long histories of playing contact sports seem to show no symptoms, while others are heavily impacted. Frank Gifford's family revealed his struggles with CTE after his death. For years after his playing career, Gifford was a well-known broadcaster of NFL games. It was not generally known that he later struggled.

Said Cody Gifford, Frank's son, of one of their last nights together, "In the span of one minute or two minutes...he had forgotten everything I had just said."

Kathie Lee Gifford, Frank's wife, viewed his brain scan. "It was heartbreaking to look at," she said. He had stage 4 CTE, on a scale of 1 to 4, 4 being the most severe. "We found damage to the hippocampus, which is the center for short-term memory...it's the cumulative aggregate blows that you take over a lifetime."