Call for ‘brain bank’ in Aust
ONE of Australia’s top sports concussion researchers has called for a “brain bank” to explore signs of a disease linked to head blows following the results of a shocking US study into NFL players.
The study found 99 per cent of former NFL players showed signs of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, a debilitating brain disease.
Neurophysiologist and La Trobe University associate professor Alan Pearce wants a brain bank established to explore the impacts of CTE in Australia.
His calls come after Dr Ann McKee examined the brains of 202 deceased football players.
Of 111 who played in the NFL, 110 showed signs of CTE.
Pearce wants Australia to follow the lead of McKee, who is a director of the CTE Centre at Boston University, which has a CTE brain bank.
Head injuries in rugby league have become a major cause for concern.
Former North Queensland Cowboy Shaun Valentine became the first rugby league player in 2011 to agree to donate his brain to an organisation called the Sports Legacy Institute to study his brain after he dies.
Former rugby league players Brett Horsnell and James McManus are taking legal action against Parramatta and Newcastle respectively over head injuries they say they suffered as a result of playing.
Melbourne Storm fullback Billy Slater was knocked out for three minutes last weekend after a late shot to the head from Canberra’s Sia Soliola. Slater will miss at least this weekend’s NRL round.
It raises fears about the prevalence of CTE, which can only be diagnosed via an autopsy on brain tissue.
It can lead to a variety of clinical symptoms, including early onset dementia, memory loss, confusion, impaired judgment, aggression, depression, anxiety, impulse-control issues and suicidal tendencies.
“We have a brain bank in every state in Australia,” Pearce said. “People can donate their brain for any sort of research but there is no dedicated sports concussion brain bank like the way they do at Boston.”
Pearce undertook a study comparing 25 former NRL players, now aged in their 50s, to 25 men of a similar age. The men carried out cognitive tests to measure memory and attention spans and found the former players had “significantly different” responses to people with no history of head injury.