Doctors hopeful new imaging technology could allow CTE diagnosis in living patients

WASHINGTON (Gray DC) - A breakthrough in chronic traumatic encephalopathy research has doctors hopeful about treating brain injuries that previously could not be identified.

A new study looked at the brains of 338 former NFL players who died. Of those, 315 were diagnosed with CTE.

Doctors can currently only determine if someone had CTE after they have died, which limits research into treatments. Doctors hope new imaging technology can change that for athletes.

George Washington University Hospital radiologist Esma Akin said the current process for determining CTE makes the disease impossible to diagnose in living patients.

“To open up their brain, cut it open, take a piece of tissue, put it under a microscope, and see if these abnormal protein deposits were in their brain. It’s called a tau protein,” she said.

Because of new breakthroughs in cellular tracing imagery, doctors can now view abnormal tau protein buildup in living patients.

“It goes like a magic bullet and gets accumulated in the crevices of the patient’s brain, a live patient. And then we can use nuclear medicine Pet scanning,” Akin said.

Boston University physician Mike Alosco worked on a recent study following former NFL players and searching for signs of CTE. He said the first step is being able to diagnose the condition in living patients.

“Once we can do that, then we are moving to the place where we can start to design, develop trials that focus on treating people who might have CTE,” Alosco said.

Akin said if the community continues producing successful studies, she believes the federal government will approve the new imaging technology for mass use in two years.

“And within two years, hopefully our clinicians, our patients can order these scans. Patients can advocate for themselves,” Akin said.

Akin said benefits would go beyond football players and can help anyone impacted by head trauma, including veterans and victims of abuse.