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The Canadian Sports Concussion Project at the Krembil Neuroscience Centre, Toronto Western Hospital
Overview 
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Research
Mission:
Our goal is to examine the possible correlation between repeated concussions and late deterioration of brain function. This problem is suspected to be especially frequent after repeated concussion in sports, but may also occur after concussions in other activities including motor vehicle crashes, industrial injuries or falls.
Methods:
For our clinical study, we are asking current and retired professional football players suffering from the after-effects of repeated concussions to participate in our clinical study, which includes neurological, neuropsychiatric, and neuropsychological assessment and MRI brain scans.
We are also in need of professional athletes and members of the public who are interested in willing their brains to the Canadian Sports Concussion Project at the the Krembil Neuroscience Centre with the consent and full knowledge of their families and doctors.
Through these two methods of research, our team is specifically attempting a clinical-MRI-neuropathological research analysis of these cases, and hopefully through this research we will be able to determine the exact pathophysiology of the condition which has been called chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). This condition is characterized by the deposition in the brain of an abnormal protein called tau-protein, and by atrophy of the brain. At present there is no effective treatment for this condition which is characterized clinically by a progressive loss of cognitive functions and the ultimate development of dementia. There is also some evidence that repetitive trauma may also produce symptoms similar to Parkinson’s disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig’s Disease).
Our Latest Research:
To date, six former CFL players have donated their brain for study. In July of 2011, the researchers released findings of the first four autopsied brains, with the support and consent of each of the players’ families (Bobby Kuntz - Toronto Argonauts and Hamilton Tiger-Cats, Jay Roberts - Ottawa Roughrider, Peter Ribbins - Winnipeg Blue Bombers, and Tony Proudfoot - Montreal Alouettes).
The findings were that two of the four players had acquired Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE). What surprised the researchers was that not all the players showed signs of CTE. The two players without CTE had pathological changes of Parkinson's disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
