A new study from the Krembil Research Institute has uncovered hidden brain damage in retired contact sports athletes, who have suffered repetitive head injuries using Flortaucipir tau-PET, an advanced imaging technique.
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, the lead researcher and Krembil Clinician Investigator.
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 biomarkers, the findings highlight the potential of tau-PET to detect early, subtle signs of brain damage that could lead to conditions like chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).
This research is a significant step forward in understanding how repetitive head injuries like 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.
Vasilevskaya A, Anastassiadis C, Thapa S, Taghdiri F, Khodadadi M, Multani N, Rusjan P, Ozzoude M, Tarazi A, Mushtaque A, Wennberg R, Houle S, Green R, Colella B, Vasdev N, Blennow K, Zetterberg H, Karikari T, Sato C, Moreno D, Rogaeva E, Mikulis D, Davis KD, Tator C, Tartaglia MC. 18F-Flortaucipir (AV1451) imaging identifies grey matter atrophy in retired athletes. Journal of Neurology. 2024 July. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00415-024-12573-0. Epub 2024 July 22.