PET Scanning of Brain Tau in Retired National Football League Players: Preliminary Findings

• Published in: The American journal of geriatric psychiatry Vol. 21; no. 2; pp. 138 - 144
• Main Authors: Small, Gary W., M.D, Kepe, Vladimir, Ph.D, Siddarth, Prabha, Ph.D, Ercoli, Linda M., Ph.D, Merrill, David A., M.D., Ph.D, Donoghue, Natacha, B.A, Bookheimer, Susan Y., Ph.D, Martinez, Jacqueline, M.S, Omalu, Bennet, M.D, Bailes, Julian, M.D, Barrio, Jorge R., Ph.D
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Inc 01-02-2013; Elsevier Limited
• Subjects: amyloid; Athletic Injuries - complications; Athletic Injuries - diagnosis; Brain Chemistry; Brain Injuries - complications; Brain Injuries - diagnosis; Case-Control Studies; Cognitive Dysfunction - diagnosis; Cognitive Dysfunction - etiology; dementia; Dementia - diagnosis; Dementia - etiology; depression; Early Diagnosis; FDDNP; Football - injuries; Humans; Internal Medicine; Male; Middle Aged; mild cognitive impairment; mood disorder; Mood Disorders - diagnosis; Mood Disorders - etiology; Neuropsychological Tests; Nitriles; Positron emission tomography; Positron-Emission Tomography - methods; Propensity Score; tau; tau Proteins - analysis; FDDNP; amyloid; mood disorder; tau; dementia; mild cognitive impairment; depression; Positron emission tomography
• ISSN: 1064-7481; 1545-7214
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jagp.2012.11.019

Objective Mild traumatic brain injury due to contact sports may cause chronic behavioral, mood, and cognitive disturbances associated with pathological deposition of tau protein found at brain autopsy. To explore whether brain tau deposits can be detected in living retired players, we used positron emission tomography (PET) scans after intravenous injections of 2-(1-{6-[(2-[F-18]fluoroethyl)(methyl)amino]-2-naphthyl}ethylidene)malononitrile (FDDNP). Methods Five retired National Football League players (age range: 45 to 73 years) with histories of mood and cognitive symptoms received neuropsychiatric evaluations and FDDNP-PET. PET signals in subcortical (caudate, putamen, thalamus, subthalamus, midbrain, cerebellar white matter) and cortical (amygdala, frontal, parietal, posterior cingulate, medial and lateral temporal) regions were compared with those of five male controls of comparable age, education, and body mass index. Results FDDNP signals were higher in players compared with controls in all subcortical regions and the amygdala, areas that produce tau deposits following trauma. Conclusions The small sample size and lack of autopsy confirmation warrant larger, more definitive studies, but if future research confirms these initial findings, FDDNP-PET may offer a means for premorbid identification of neurodegeneration in contact-sports athletes.