The American journal of geriatric psychiatry : official journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry
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Am J Geriatr Psychiatry · Oct 2016
Case ReportsProgressive Focal Gray Matter Volume Loss in a Former High School Football Player: A Possible Magnetic Resonance Imaging Volumetric Signature for Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy.
Here a case is presented of a 51-year-old former high school football player with multiple concussions, including one episode with loss of consciousness. The patient experienced 6 years of cognitive and mood decline, and his wife corroborated increasing memory loss, attentional difficulties, and depressed mood without suicidal ideation. He had been unable to maintain full-time employment because of progressive decline. ⋯ This regional volume loss correlated with the increased signal seen on tau and amyloid imaging (FDDNP-PET scan) of a separate case of suspected chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). Visual assessment of the MRI also showed evidence of old petechial hemorrhages in the frontal and temporal-parietal lobe white matter. This case raises the possibility of distinct quantitative and visual brain MRI findings in suspected CTE.