Knowra Chronic traumatic encephalopathy Chronic traumatic encephalopathy Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease associated with repeated head impacts. It is defined neuropathologically by an abnormal pattern of tau protein accumulation in the brain.
Tau protein : A protein that stabilizes microtubules in neurons and can form abnormal aggregates in several neurodegenerative diseases. Abnormally aggregated tau is the defining brain pathology of CTE.
Dementia pugilistica : A historical name for a syndrome of cognitive and motor problems observed in some boxers after repeated blows to the head. Early descriptions of this boxer-associated syndrome helped establish the condition now called CTE.
Repetitive head impacts : Repeated forces transmitted to the head, including impacts that do not produce diagnosed concussion symptoms. CTE has been associated with cumulative exposure to head impacts, not only recognized concussions.
National Football League concussion settlement : A legal settlement established in 2015 to compensate eligible former NFL players for certain neurological diagnoses and related conditions. The settlement addressed concerns about brain disease in football, although CTE itself cannot be diagnosed under its compensation criteria during life.
Alzheimer's disease : A progressive brain disease and the most common cause of dementia, characterized by amyloid plaques and tau tangles. Both diseases involve tau pathology, but they have different defining patterns and associated features.
Neurofibrillary tangle : An intracellular aggregate of abnormally modified tau protein found in certain neurodegenerative diseases. CTE pathology includes tau aggregates with a distinctive distribution around small blood vessels.
Harrison Martland : An American pathologist who published an early medical description of neurological problems in boxers in 1928. His account of “punch drunk” boxers helped bring the condition into medical literature.
Concussion : A mild traumatic brain injury that temporarily affects brain function, usually after a blow or jolt to the head. Concussion is often conflated with CTE, but a history of diagnosed concussions does not establish CTE.
Brain bank : A facility that collects, stores, and studies donated human brain tissue for research. Donated brains have enabled postmortem studies of CTE, but donation samples cannot establish how common it is in the general population.
Chronic traumatic encephalopathy syndrome : A proposed clinical syndrome of cognitive, mood, or behavioral symptoms associated with repetitive head-impact exposure. The clinical syndrome is not equivalent to CTE pathology and cannot establish that pathology during life.
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