Canadian investigation study, a first-of-its-kind, is heading towards an important medical innovation for a brain illness, thought to be triggered by recurrent head injuries that can only be distinguished after death. Inside the brain imaging center at Toronto’s Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), Director Neil Vasdev is confident that his team is on the point of being able to identify chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in a living individual.
Speaking with CTV National News, Vasdev said, if we could distinguish CTE in life then we can initiate working towards ending the disease in its tracks. That would be a game-changer for thousands across the world. The illness has progressively been found in the brains of deceased sportspersons like football and hockey players, and more lately it has been revealed in military veterans. Scientists have found that individuals with a history of considerable repetitive head impacts (RHI), can notice a build-up of a protein around the blood vessels named “tau.” A different type of tau is also found in Alzheimer’s patients. A collection of the CTE-specific tau protein can experience life-altering reasoning effects on the living by affecting their cognitive capability, which can lead to hopelessness and even suicidal tendencies.
Presently, doctors are incapable of diagnosing CTE in a living patient, however, Vasdev and his team of Canadian researchers at CAMH are eager to change that. Their work emphasizes taking medication and making it radioactive. Identified as a tracer, the radioactive drug is inserted into a patient which is then positioned inside what’s called a PET imaging scanner. As the drug spreads through an area of the body, doctors can then perceive any red flags.
Using PET imaging and radioactive drugs, specialists can “look at the living human brain,” Vasdev explains. Vasdev’s hope lies in a novel radio-pharmaceutical, that has been enhanced to possibly detect the type of tau protein found in CTE, and in the weeks ahead his scientists will commence a Canadian research study on humans to test its efficiency. For many with this brain disorder, it is an optimistic step. International Research Director Samantha Bureau with the Concussion Legacy Foundation informs CTV News that for those suffering from supposed CTE, this study can deliver an enormous amount of hope. A considerable challenge for those who suspect they may have CTE is the doubt about the source of what they are experiencing.
The expectation is that if successful, this study will expose openings for better treatment avenues in the future. The capability to be involved in clinical trials to progress treatments that modify disease progression, by slowing or in best case scenarios, reversing or clearing the illness, would entirely change how we address CTE in the clinic, adds Bureau.
Vasdev’s study into concussions started more than a decade ago when he was working at Harvard University. He shares his belief that substantial strides have been made in looking at Alzheimer’s disease tau, but CTE tau protein is unlike because no two head injuries are similar and it is frequently found in much younger individuals. For Vasdev, it’s a mission of passion. His mother is a Canadian military veteran who was recruited in the 1970s. At the time, she was one of the first East Indian women in the military. She has devoted her brain to CTE study. Vasdev is hopeful his work will help his mother, veterans, and Canadians from all walks of life.
