Chapter 1. Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy

Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease caused by a single or repeated blow to the head. CTE affects athletes of many types, combat war veterans, and others who experience head trauma (Maroon et al., 2015; McKee et al., 2016). The symptoms, which may not appear for months or years after the injury, include changes to memory, emotions, thinking, and personality. CTE is somewhat similar to other neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s in that it can impair memory, movement, and the ability to plan and carry out everyday tasks (McKee et al., 2013).