Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy

In 2012, after 20 seasons as an NFL player, Junior Seau committed suicide at age 43. In the years leading to his death, Seau's family noticed a change in his thinking, personality, and enthusiasm for the game. Impulsive gambling, alcoholism, and violence became the new conversation around the man once known as a beloved philanthropist, Fainaru-Wada, 2013 February 15. Upon his death, his brain showed the hallmarks of CTE, Ninds, 2013 January 10.

At the center is a partially grayed out photo of two players’ clashing their helmeted heads. The helmet on the right is overlaid with a graphic of the brain and an arrow curving down the curve of the helmet. Two smaller arrows curving up and down follow the curve of the brain.

At the right is an image of a female soccer player tossing a ball on her head. The caption reads as follows;

Retired soccer star Brandi Chastain has announced she will donate her brain to research. Chastain believes this will be a bigger legacy than her goal-winning shot in the 1999 World Cup. Like many soccer players, Chastain advocates the banning of headers in youth soccer, Branch, 2016 March.

A frame titled, The Progression of CTE shows four illustrations with four descriptions as follows;

• Stage 1; Tau protein accumulates locally in the cortex. Symptoms; headaches, and difficulty maintaining focus. The image shows a slice of pale brain tissue with a dark patch circled.
• Stage 2; The damage spreads to surrounding areas. Symptoms; short-term memory impairment, mood swings, depression, explosive temper, and continued headaches and trouble focusing. The image shows a slice of pale brain tissue with several dark patches scattered through the tissue.
• Stage 3; Damage continues to spread, reaching areas such as the hippocampus, amygdala, and brainstem. Symptoms; memory loss, difficulty planning and carrying out tasks, visuospatial abnormalities, and ongoing difficulties with mood and attention. The image shows a slice of pale brain tissue with several dark areas at the top and bottom edges of the tissue.
• Stage 4; Widespread damage across many regions of the brain, including the medial temporal lobe, hypothalamus, and thalamus. Symptoms; worsening of existing symptoms, along with language difficulties and paranoia. Severe memory loss. The image shows a slice of a darker shade of brain tissue that resembles a patch.

A text frame at the bottom reads as follows;

How does CTE differ from other neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s? Symptoms associated with CTE typically present around age 40, while those of Alzheimer’s generally appear around 60. Changes in thinking, cognition, and personality are common symptoms of CTE, while Alzheimer's is typically associated with memory problems, Frequently asked questions, n.d. However, emerging research suggests that behavioral changes and neuropsychiatric symptoms, depression or anxiety, for example may signal the beginning of the disease process in Alzheimer's patients, Donovan et al., 2014; Ismail, 2016.