New Study: Brain trauma disease found in 96% of NFL players examined
By: Paul Dughi
Tags: NFL, Bennet Omalu, Concussions

A new new study is showing astonishing results that are sure to make the NFL uncomfortable once again over concussions. In the study, Frontline reports 87 of 91 former players have tested positive for brain disease.

The disease is called CTE (or chronic traumatic encephalopathy). It’s a disease found in some football players derived from repeated head trauma. The disease is linked to dementia, memory loss, and depression as well as other behavioral changes.

96% of NFL players examined showed signs of CTE — Department of Veterans Affairs and Boston University

Department of Veterans Affairs and Boston University researchers say they have identified the disease in a whopping 96% of the NFL players they have examined and 79% of all football players. The lab examined brain tissue of 165 deceased football players, both those that played in the NFL and other non-professional levels… some going back to high school.

Read More: Tony Dorsett among those identified with signs of CTE

While some testing can show signs of CTE in the living, so far researchers can only positively identify it during a postmortem.

People think that we’re blowing this out of proportion, that this is a very rare disease and that we’re sensationalizing it. My response is that where I sit, this is a very real disease. We have had no problem identifying it in hundreds of players.” — Dr. Ann McKee, Chief of Neuropathology, VA Boston Healthcare, on Frontline.

More than a thousand NFL retirees and their families are currently looking at an October deadline to decide whether to opt out of a proposed settlement with the NFL, coming out of a class action suit brought against the NFL by 4,500 former players. In the proposed settlement, the NFL admits no wrongdoing, but actuarial data compiled by a company at the direction of the NFL and subsequently filed in court showed that even a more conservative estimate is scary.

Nearly three in 10 former NFL players will develop at least moderate neurocognitive problems and qualify for payments under the proposed concussion settlement, according to documents filed by the league and the players. — ESPN Report

Responding to the study, a spokesman for the NFL said: “We are dedicated to making football safer and continue to take steps to protect players, including rule changes, advanced sideline technology, and expanded medical resources.”

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Concussion — Sony Pictures/You Tube[/caption]

The study comes out at a time when the NFL is having to confront the concussion issue with a new movie, starring Will Smith, called, appropriately, Concussion. The movie is the real life story of forensics pathologist Bennet Omalu of Nigeria. Omalu discovered the disease called CTE (or chronic traumatic encephalopathy). It’s a disease he found in football players, from repeated head trauma. The disease is linked to dementia and depression as well as other behavioral changes.

The doctor presented his research to the NFL in 2005. The NFL rejected his research and has been openly critical ever since. The league reportedly put pressure on Sony Pictures to water down the film. Sony insists it did not.

“As will become immediately clear to anyone actually seeing the movie, nothing with regard to this important story has been ‘softened’ to placate anyone.” — Jean Guerin, Sony Pictures

An ESPN documentary based on the research was killed after two years of work on the project. Some insiders at ESPN believe it was due to pressure from the NFL.

The first case of CTE was associated with Steelers center Mike Webster and was discovered during his autopsy. Webster, an NFL star, Hall of Famer, won 4 Superbowl rings in his 15 year career. But the years after leaving the NFL were sad.

“He is homeless, unemployed, deep in debt, beset with medical ailments, lacking health insurance, in the midst of divorce, in the care of a psychiatrist and on medication, and involved in a complex lawsuit over real estate investments.” — Pittburgh post Gazette, 1997.

Read the feature story on Webster’s travails, republished from 1997.

Omalu is currently chief medical examiner of San Joaquin County, California and is a professor in the UC Davis Department of Medical Pathology and Laboratory Medicine. The NFL, which had publically denounced Dr. Omalu’s research, did admit problems with repeated blows and enacted new concussion protocols and settled some pending lawsuits by current and former players. Recently, in fact, the NFL awarded a half-million dollar grant to further research

Watch the trailer for Will Smith’s movie, “Concussion,” below.