2023-05-06 16:00:00
Impacts to the head from certain contact sports can, in the long term, damage the health of players. Football, rugby, American football… professionals have often repetitive head injuries and concussions. These are likely to increase their risk of developing chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) than the Merck Manual defines as “a progressive degenerative disease of the brain that can occur following head trauma or repetitive explosions.“A CTE usually progresses to incurable dementia. However, researchers from across the Atlantic wanted to check whether other disorders might not be responsible for the symptoms observed in athletes.
Contact sports: an athlete with hydrocephalus
In a study published in the journal Current Sports Medicine Reports, scientists have been interested in the case of a 54-year-old former professional American football player who was very exposed to concussions during his career. He suffered from various symptoms: cognitive, behavioral and personality disorders.
The man was participating in the Football Players Health Study (FPHS) at Harvard, an ongoing study that aims to better understand the long-term health of former footballers National Football League (NFL). Like the other volunteers, the athlete has passed more examinations than is conventionally done among top athletes. Thus, a cerebral magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) made it possible to diagnose him with hydrocephalus. It is a disease characterized by the presence of too much cerebrospinal fluid in the cavities of the brain, called ventricles.
Neurological disorders: players should be fully screened
After the diagnosis, the patient was treated. A ventriculoperitoneal shunt was placed on him during an operation. It is a type of medical device used to relieve pressure on the brain due to fluid buildup. Since then, his symptoms – cognitive, behavioral and personality disorders – have greatly improved.
“It is important to always try to understand why a person is undergoing a change, said Adam Tenforde, author of this study, in a communiqué. There can be unconscious biases regarding athletes, past and present, and these biases can affect care. Healthcare professionals may assume that cognitive decline is a sign of an incurable diagnosis [de CTE et donc de démence]. But one of the main conclusions of our work is that when we take a more holistic approach, we can find alternative explanations and a treatable diagnosis.”
Scientists therefore plead for broader and more systematic screening in athletes, because, depending on the disease, treatments exist to relieve neurological and cognitive ailments.
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