MRI scans may be able to diagnose CTE.

• Position: Brain Disorder - Chronic traumatic encephalopathy - Brief article

Doctors have found what may be an earlier and easier way to diagnose chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, a disorder that is thought to affect some former football players and others with a history of repetitive brain trauma. Using a new software tool for analyzing MRI scans, researchers at UCLA Medical Center detected the shrinkage of several key brain regions in a former football player with cognitive problems. The same pattern of brain changes commonly is seen in CTE cases that have been con firmed by autopsies after a person's death.

While the findings from this single case report are preliminary, they raise the possibility that MRI scans could be used to diagnose CTE and related conditions in living people. At present, CTE can be diagnosed only by direct examination of the brain during an autopsy.

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