Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy

This article provides a discussion on the current state of knowledge of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), with an emphasis on clinical features and emerging biomarkers of the condition.

The results of several large brain bank case series among subjects with a history of contact sports or repetitive head trauma have indicated that a high frequency of CTE may exist in this population. However, the true prevalence of CTE among individuals with a history of head trauma remains unknown, given that individuals who experienced cognitive, behavioral, and mood symptoms during life are more likely to have their brains donated for autopsy at death and epidemiologic studies of the condition are lacking. Neuropathologic consensus criteria have been published. Research-based clinical criteria have been proposed and are beginning to be applied, but the definitive diagnosis of CTE in a living patient remains impossible without effective biomarkers for the condition, which is an active area of study.

The field of CTE research is rapidly growing and parallels many of the advances seen for other neurodegenerative conditions, such as Alzheimer disease decades ago.