NFL Concussion Lawyers
In May, Former NFL Linebacker Junior Seau was found dead in his home in Oceanside, California, from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest.
The Brain Injury Research Institute and Boston University’s Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy asked the Seau family if they could analyze Junior’s brain.
The two centers are the primary “brain banks” evaluating the brain damage in former NFL players. If the family allows it, his brain will be analyzed under a microscope.
NFL Concussion Dangers
Given Seau’s profession, the evaluation assumes that the tissues will show a buildup of a protein called tau, which creates tangles like the ones doctors see in Alzheimer’s patients.
Junior Seau’s brain would be an addition to the 60-plus brains of former NFL players who have already demonstrated postmortem signs of CTE: Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, a diagnosis that spells death.
Will This Help NFL Players Before Its Too Late?
The question is, after ten years of brain-slicing autopsies, will this ever help NFL players before they pass away? Physicians can’t cut open living patients and take a look at them under a microscope.
However, scientists at UCLA have developed new research using state-of-the-art biomarkers that can attach to tau protein tangles so that they show up on PET scans of living patients.
Concussion Dangers
Dr. Gary Small runs a pilot study on retired NFL players, imaging their brains. If he is successful, his work would revolutionize the science of head injuries around the world, saving lives instead of merely investigating deaths.
This new research on tau biomarkers is the most promising work into CTE so far. The project could help make CTE a treatable disease, rather than a postmortem determination. Hopefully, this new brain imaging technique can track the disease’s progress, and find a solution- before it’s too late.
NFL Concussion Lawyers
The NFL Concussion Lawyers at the Strom Law Firm are currently accepting cases involving NFL head injuries. Call today for a free consultation. 803.252.4800
