MRI scan may help diagnose chronic traumatic encephalopathy, UCLA researchers report

UCLA doctors have found what may be an earlier and easier way to diagnose chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, a disorder that is thought to affect some former football players and others with a history of repetitive brain trauma. Using a new software tool for analyzing MRI scans, the researchers detected the shrinkage of several key brain regions in a former football player with cognitive problems. The same pattern of brain changes is commonly seen in CTE cases that have been confirmed by autopsies after a person’s death. While the findings from this single case report are preliminary, they raise the possibility that MRI scans could be used to diagnose CTE and related conditions in living people. At present, CTE can be diagnosed only by direct examination of the brain during an autopsy. “Having an MRI-based technique for detecting this pattern of brain changes would help us a lot in assessing the brain health of athletes and others with histories of concussions,” said Dr. David Merrill, assistant clinical professor of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA. Along with its potential benefits in diagnosing patients in the clinic, the MRI scanning technique could also help speed research of CTE, helping scientists better understand its prevalence in the population and in studying potential therapies, said Dr. Cyrus Raji, a senior resident in radiology at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. Raji and Mer...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news