Aaron Hernandez Found to Have Severe C.T.E

Re:Aaron Hernandez Found to Have Severe C.T.E by smaili on Thursday September 21, 2017 @04:56PM (#15307273)

> C.T.E., or chronic traumatic encephalopathy, can be diagnosed only posthumously.

Just thinking out loud, does anyone know if this could ever be diagnosed while the person is alive? I'm not very familiar with the disease but just knowing you have it while you're alive would give people at least an opportunity to try and do something about it before it's too late.

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Re:Aaron Hernandez Found to Have Severe C.T.E by justboxing on Thursday September 21, 2017 @05:07PM (#15307359)

> does anyone know if this could ever be diagnosed while the person is alive?

I don't believe that's possible (yet) but the good news is that several Research Institutes are said to be conducting on going research into diagnosing C.T.E while the person is still alive..

> At this time CTE can only be diagnosed after death by postmortem neuropathological analysis. Right now there is no known way to use MRI, CT, or other brain imaging methods to diagnose CTE. The CTE Center is actively conducting research aimed at learning how to diagnose CTE during life. Find out more about our research here.

Source: Boston University’s Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) Research Center => https://www.bu.edu/cte/about/frequently-asked-questions/

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Re:Aaron Hernandez Found to Have Severe C.T.E by toomuchtodo on Thursday September 21, 2017 @05:24PM (#15307488)

This article indicated Boston University is making progress using PET imaging [1].

[1] http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/i-team/new-brain-scan-leap...

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Re:Aaron Hernandez Found to Have Severe C.T.E by erentz on Thursday September 21, 2017 @05:06PM (#15307353)

Not a doctor. But based on what I've read and seen a diagnosis requires tissue samples of the brain and analysis through a microscope. So it might be possible with some kind of brain biopsy, given there is no treatment for it cutting open someone's head and cutting out some brain to diagnose it is pointless. Without taking tissue sample diagnosis could only be based on behavior.

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Re:Aaron Hernandez Found to Have Severe C.T.E by wl on Thursday September 21, 2017 @05:11PM (#15307392)

I was recently talking with a neurosurgery fellow who claimed CTE is a bit of a controversial diagnosis to begin with. Not only can it only be diagnosed posthumously, but it cannot be diagnosed by autopsy alone. According to him, many brains display the pathology characteristic of CTE. What makes it CTE or not is a history of concussive/subconcussive injuries.

Of course, I may have misunderstood him and/or his opinion may not be in sync with the consensus in the field. Still, it's not something I've heard in these discussions.

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[dead]

Re:Aaron Hernandez Found to Have Severe C.T.E by dang on Thursday September 21, 2017 @07:24PM (#15308149)

We've banned this account for repeatedly violating the site guidelines.

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Re:Aaron Hernandez Found to Have Severe C.T.E by mjevans on Thursday September 21, 2017 @05:22PM (#15307484)

Maybe with better medical tech. Stuff more like from science fiction. Various forms of 'non invasive' medical scanners becoming more common, less expensive, and linked to automated computer diagnosis (flag X for doctor/expert review) is probably the most effective route to such improvements.

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