neurologic disorders
Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE)
Introduction
Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is a progressive degenerative brain disorder that may occur after repetitive head trauma or blast injuries. (See also Overview of Delirium and Dementia and Dementia pugilistica, identified in boxers in the 1920s, and chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a more recent term, are thought to be the same disorder. Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) has been widely studied. It is recognized in some retired professional or college athletes who played American football and other athletes who have had repetitive head trauma and in some soldiers with brain damage secondary to closed head injuries due to blast trauma. Why only certain people who have repetitive Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) develop CTE and what the risks of developing it are after various amounts of head trauma (eg, how many, how much force) are currently unknown. About 3% of athletes who have had multiple (even apparently minor) Pathologically, CTE is characterized by the deposition of hyperphosphorylated tau protein as neurofibrillary tangles, most prominently in the perivascular spaces, cortical sulcal depths, and subpial and periventricular areas. 