Neuropathology_CTE_Studies
Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy
The first Neuropathologist Researcher to find CTE
in an NFL Player
is Bennett Omalu, MD. (now at Univ of Pittsburgh)
The player had dementia and eventually committed
suicide. His family donated the brain to Bennett Omalu,
who performed the autopsy of Mike Webster's Brain. Mike was a former NFL
Hall of Fame member, and a
former member of the Superbowl Champion Pittsburgh Steelers. He played
center as this team won four
Superbowls under coach Chuck Noll. That's a LOT of head banging!!!
Repeated head collisions have been
found to cause CTE by Dr Bennett. Later, CTE was also discovered in may other
NFL players by autopsies
performed by researchers like Dr Ann McKee.
Many examples of research papers I found using
"Google Scholar", in this case, with primary search terms
"CTE in NFL players", and sometimes with a combination of larger terms like
"Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy"
and adding "NFL".
Research papers on CTE found in NFL players'
brains are becoming commonplace!
There are a number of huge class-action lawsuits against the NFL for being "in
denial".
Here is a white paper on NFL Denial of CTE being caused by football collisions:
"It's
just a Concussion" by Daniel J. Kain.
The book of course to read is: "League of Denial" !!
Here is an informative peer reviewed Clinical
Correlations Journal entry:
"Concussions and Football
by the Numbers" by Benjamin G. Wu
My list of pertinent CTE Study papers sorted by primary researcher, unless noted otherwise:
1. Bennett Omalu, MD, MPH:
Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy in a National Football League Player Part I Part 2
Fourth Case of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy Reported in Former NFL Player (Article includes Dr Omalu in the discussion)
2. Ann McKee, MD
Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy in Athletes: Progressive Tauopathy following Repetitive Head Injury
There are much more reports,
and many of the source journals charge for downloading them.
If you use Google Scholar, the secondary link is sometimes provided on the right
side of the source journal link where a free copy of the report is available.