You may have heard of athletes who experience chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), but what is this dangerous brain condition, and who is at risk besides professional athletes?
Caitlin Hartsgrove, MD, a physical medicine and rehabilitation and brain injury medicine specialist with Atlantic Health System, shares more about this disease, how it develops and how to lower your risk.
What Is CTE?
CTE is an illness that affects the brain and gets worse over time. This neurodegenerative disease is caused by repetitive head injuries that lead to deposits of abnormal proteins around the blood vessels of the brain that disrupt normal brain function. Unlike concussions, which are one-time incidents that usually heal on their own, CTE is caused by the accumulation of blows to the head — including hits that don’t lead to concussions.
“Any exposure to long term repeated head trauma can lead to CTE,” says Dr. Hartsgrove. “There’s a lot we don’t know about this condition, but what we do know is that the combination of the number and magnitude of head injuries is what leads to damage over time.”
Some of the most well-known examples of CTE come from contact sports, but other groups are also at risk, including military personnel and those experiencing intimate partner violence.
What Are the Symptoms of CTE?
As a progressive illness, CTE often starts with small changes in memory and behavior that become worse over time. CTE can lead to:
- Behavioral problems like rage or impulsivity
- Difficulty completing tasks or paying attention
- Memory loss
- Mood disorders like depression, anxiety, paranoia and suicidal thoughts
- Personality changes
- Trouble balancing or speaking
“If you’re at risk and know you’ve had a lot of blows to the head, or if your loved ones are raising concerns, it’s always good to get checked out,” says Dr. Hartsgrove.
Unfortunately, there are currently no blood or imaging tests that can diagnose this condition and the only way to diagnose CTE is by examining the brain after a patient has died. However, traumatic encephalopathy syndrome (TES) is a clinical disorder that can be observed and diagnosed during life and that is associated with CTE diagnosis after death. If your doctor suspects TES/CTE, they will walk through your history of exposure to head injuries and evaluate your memory, behavior and mood.
How to Prevent CTE
The most important thing you can do to prevent CTE is to protect yourself from repeated head trauma. Professional sports leagues are taking this guidance into account, limiting practice, improving equipment and strengthening concussion protocols to protect players on the field.
While there are no treatments to cure CTE, medications and therapies can help manage the symptoms. Your doctor may continue to evaluate you for other conditions with similar symptoms that can be treated.
“This condition isn’t caused by one single traumatic injury,” says Dr. Hartsgrove. “We know that the longer you are exposed to hits over time, the more likely you are to experience CTE. The best thing you can do to protect yourself is limit exposure to repetitive trauma to your head.”
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