UCSF study on CTE seeks living athletes' data to help diagnose the degenerative disease
A groundbreaking new study is underway that could help football players and other athletes who may be more at risk for concussions.
University of California, San Francisco researchers are studying the brains of more than 200 living former players for signs of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, also known as CTE, a degenerative brain disease that develops after repeated head injuries.
As of now, a diagnosis can only be made postmortem.
UCSF neurologist Dr. Gil Rabinovici and his team of researchers are aiming to develop reliable diagnostic tests while exploring factors that influence who develops CTE and why.
"We've gotten there with Alzheimer's disease, so we know it's possible in Alzheimer's disease. In the last 20 years, we've developed brain scans and blood tests that can actually detect the brain changes years and years before people have the earliest sign of memory loss," said Rabinovici.
The new five-year study is a continuation of a previous CTE trial. Researchers concluded it's the number of years played that's a better predictor of CTE than the number of concussions suffered.
"There are all these other blows that don't cause concussions that are maybe contributing as much to the risk of developing CTE and later in life neurological and psychiatric decline," said Rabinovici.
As leading researchers hope to one day detect and treat CTE in living people, football parents like Stephen Parini believe changes to the game have made it safer for his son to play.
"I'm concerned every time he takes a snap, every play he plays, I'm concerned something might happen," said Stephen Parini.
His son is a student-athlete at Alhambra High School in Martinez, where two players recently suffered head injuries during a football game.
"Seeing that and the air leave the stadium impacted me," said Parini. "I decided it was time to take action to better protect the kids on the field."
Parini launched a GoFundMe effort to purchase Guardian Caps, padded helmet coverings to help minimize injuries, for the entire team.
He understands, there's a certain amount of risk in any sport that's played.
"I'm definitely not trying to get in the way of him chasing his dreams, but I do want to make sure he has the most protection possible," said Parini.
Parini is organizing another fundraiser to purchase top-of-the-line helmets for the team.
Rabinovici says the next step after diagnosis in living people would involve developing treatment through more trials.
Former football players, as well as athletes who have no history of contact and collision sports and are interested in participating, are encouraged to sign up for the Concussion Legacy Foundation Research Registry at CLFResearch.org
