We use cookies to understand how you use our site and to improve your experience. This includes personalizing content and advertising. To learn more, click here. By continuing to use our site, you accept our use of cookies. Cookie Policy.

Features Partner Sites Information LinkXpress
Sign In
Advertise with Us
GLOBETECH PUBLISHING LLC

Download Mobile App




PET Scan Could Help Diagnose Head Trauma Damage

By MedImaging International staff writers
Posted on 28 Sep 2016
Print article
Image: A PET scan of a brain with suspected CTE; red and yellow indicate abnormal brain protein (Photo courtesy of UCLA).
Image: A PET scan of a brain with suspected CTE; red and yellow indicate abnormal brain protein (Photo courtesy of UCLA).
Proteins are deposited in a characteristic pattern in the brains of athletes suffering from in chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), according to a new study.

Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA; USA), NorthShore University Health System (NSUHS; Evanston, IL, USA), and other institutions conducted a study in 14 retired national football league (NFL) football players, all of whom sustained at least one concussion during their career. Study participants underwent a positron emission tomography (PET) scan using a chemical marker called FDDNP, which binds to deposits of neurofibrillary tau tangles and amyloid beta plaques. The PET scans were also compared to those of 28 men and women with healthy brains, and 24 men and women with Alzheimer’s disease (AD), all of similar ages.

The results revealed that the retired football players showed tau deposit patterns consistent with those previously observed in autopsy studies of people with CTE, which indicated that brainstem white matter tracts undergo early axonal damage and cumulative axonal injuries along subcortical, limbic, and cortical brain circuitries supporting mood, emotions, and behavior. The deposition pattern was different from the progressive pattern of neuropathology in AD, which typically begins in the medial temporal lobe and progresses along the cortical default mode network, with minimal involvement of subcortical structures.

In addition, the areas in the brain where the patterns occurred were also consistent with the types of symptoms experienced by some of the study participants. When compared with healthy people, the former athletes had higher levels of FDDNP in the amygdala and subcortical regions of the brain, while people with AD had higher levels of FDDNP in areas of the cerebral cortex. Athletes who suffered more concussions also had higher FDDNP levels. The study was published in the June 2016 issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS).

“We found that the imaging pattern in people with suspected CTE differs significantly from healthy volunteers and those with Alzheimer’s dementia,” said study author Julian Bailes, MD, director of the Brain Injury Research Institute at NSUHS. “These results suggest that this brain scan may also be helpful as a test to differentiate trauma-related cognitive issues from those caused by Alzheimer’s disease.”

CTE is thought to cause memory loss, confusion, progressive dementia, depression, suicidal behavior, personality changes, and abnormal gaits and tremor. Currently, it can only be diagnosed definitively following autopsy. To help identify the disease, doctors look for an accumulation of tau in the regions of the brain that control mood, cognition, and motor function. Tau is also one of the abnormal protein deposits found in the brains of people with AD, although in a distribution pattern that is different from that found in CTE.

Related Links:
University of California, Los Angeles
NorthShore University Health System
Gold Member
Solid State Kv/Dose Multi-Sensor
AGMS-DM+
New
Oncology Information System
RayCare
Compact C-Arm with FPD
Arcovis DRF-C R21
New
DR Flat Panel Detector
1500L

Print article

Channels

Ultrasound

view channel
Image: Structure of the proposed transparent ultrasound transducer and its optical transmittance (Photo courtesy of POSTECH)

Ultrasensitive Broadband Transparent Ultrasound Transducer Enhances Medical Diagnosis

The ultrasound-photoacoustic dual-modal imaging system combines molecular imaging contrast with ultrasound imaging. It can display molecular and structural details inside the body in real time without... Read more

Nuclear Medicine

view channel
Image: PET/CT of a 60-year-old male patient with clinical suspicion of lung cancer (Photo courtesy of EJNMMI Physics)

Early 30-Minute Dynamic FDG-PET Acquisition Could Halve Lung Scan Times

F-18 FDG-PET scans are a way to look inside the body using a special dye, and these scans can be either static or dynamic. Static scans happen 60 minutes after the dye is administered into the body, showing... Read more

Imaging IT

view channel
Image: The new Medical Imaging Suite makes healthcare imaging data more accessible, interoperable and useful (Photo courtesy of Google Cloud)

New Google Cloud Medical Imaging Suite Makes Imaging Healthcare Data More Accessible

Medical imaging is a critical tool used to diagnose patients, and there are billions of medical images scanned globally each year. Imaging data accounts for about 90% of all healthcare data1 and, until... Read more

Industry News

view channel
Image: The acquisition will expand IBA’s medical imaging quality assurance offering (Photo courtesy of Radcal)

IBA Acquires Radcal to Expand Medical Imaging Quality Assurance Offering

Ion Beam Applications S.A. (IBA, Louvain-La-Neuve, Belgium), the global leader in particle accelerator technology and a world-leading provider of dosimetry and quality assurance (QA) solutions, has entered... Read more
Copyright © 2000-2024 Globetech Media. All rights reserved.