Study Initiated to Probe Degenerative Brain Disease in Former Athletes

Researchers from Boston University have recruited more than a 100 former footballers who have played in the National Football League (NFL) in a three-year study about degenerative brain disease in former athletes.

The study will be conducted by researchers from the Centre for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy, School of Medicine, Boston University who have already analyzed over 70 former athletes to try and diagnose Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE).

Presently the only way to check whether a person suffered from CTE was by scanning the brains of athletes after their deaths.

The researchers will be hoping that their three-year long study will help them come up with a way to diagnose this problem when the person is still alive. The co-director of BU's School of Medicine, Robert Stern said that unless a way can be found to diagnose the condition during a person's lifetime, effective treatments cannot be developed.



Source: Medindia