By UHN Research Communications
A study from UHN's Krembil Research Institute has used Flortaucipir tau-PET, an advanced imaging technique, to uncover hidden brain damage in retired contact sports athletes who have suffered repetitive head injuries.
This is the first study to show that in the early stages when the participants have no significant cognitive impairment, there is significant grey matter atrophy — brain tissue loss — in the areas of the brain that have PET Tau positivity in athletes.
This detects early signs of neurodegeneration that might otherwise go unnoticed.
"We're seeing changes in the brain that could be linked to repeated sports-related head injuries, even before symptoms appear," says Dr. Maria Carmela Tartaglia, clinician investigator at Krembil and the lead researcher on the study.
The study found that athletes with higher tau levels in their brains also experienced more memory changes. While none of the participants showed Alzheimer's disease biomarkers, the findings highlight the potential of tau-PET to detect early, subtle signs of brain damage that could lead to conditions such as chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).
This research is a significant step forward in understanding how repetitive head injuries such as those suffered in sports can affect the brain long-term, emphasizing the importance of early detection to protect athletes' health.
This study is funded by the PSI Foundation, Weston Brain Foundation, Krembil Foundation, and UHN Foundation.
Dr. Maria Carmela Tartaglia is a Marion and Gerald Soloway Chair in Brain Injury and Concussion Research, a professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of Toronto, a Cognitive Neurologist at the Memory Clinic of Toronto Western Hospital, and the Director of the Memory Clinical Trials Unit.
