Overview of Our Research
Clinical Research Purposes
- To study involving former professional contact sports athletes including football and hockey players as well as boxers, and other professional athletes who undergo a neurological and neuropsychological assessment as well as brain scans (MRIs), and PET scans to help better understand the changes in the brain that may occur due to multiple concussions.
- To improve diagnostic imaging techniques to diagnose the full spectrum of concussions – from acute concussion to persisting concussion symptoms (PCS) to CTE – and to discover ways to grade the severity of these conditions.
- Clinical research into new treatment approaches for people with PCS, such as treatment for dizziness, headaches, and screen intolerance.
- Searching for biomarkers including blood tests that may be used to diagnose a concussion as well as identifying any susceptibility to concussion within families through genetics.
Brain Donation Research Program for Concussion and their Consequences
Encouraging professional athletes or their families, on their behalf, to donate their brains to our Brain Donation Research Program for Concussion and their Consequences upon their death, so that further study and understanding of concussions can be achieved through post-mortem examinations.
Research Details of the Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) study at the Canadian Concussion Centre (CCC)
Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) is characterized by deposits of an abnormal protein in the brain called tau, and by shrinkage of the brain. There is currently no effective way to diagnose this condition in life or to treat this condition which has been shown to cause neuropsychiatric symptoms and a progressive loss of cognitive functions leading to the development of dementia.
One of the main goals of the research team at the Canadian Concussion Centre is to examine the possible relationship between repeated concussions and late deterioration of brain function leading to CTE. Individuals who have sustained multiple concussions from playing sports seem to be at greater risk of developing CTE, but brain deterioration may also occur as a result of sustaining concussions in motor vehicle crashes, industrial injuries or falls.
Methods
Our ongoing study at the CCC is looking at the potential effects of CTE in two ways:
- Current and retired professional football and hockey players, and other professional athletes who have had concussions undergo multi-modal investigations that include neurological, neuropsychiatric, and neuropsychological assessments, as well as blood draw, MRI and PET brain scans. Our team then continues to follow them to observe how their symptoms progress over time.
- Since CTE can currently only be diagnosed after death, our team also conducts autopsies and analyses of brains that were donated to the CCC by professional athletes or their families on their behalf. Members of the public who have sustained repetitive concussions are also welcome to will their brains to the Canadian Concussion Centre to help further this research. Learn more about
brain donation.
- Through these two methods of research, our team conducts a detailed research analysis of these cases to determine how post-traumatic brain degeneration, including CTE, is produced.
