NEW research has demonstrated the ability of flortaucipir PET imaging is able to identify neuropathological brain changes in retired athletes. The study, conducted by a team from the University of Toronto, Canada, was conducted on a group of former contact sport athletes at risk of neurodegeneration.
The research team enrolled 47 retired contact sport athletes negative for Alzheimer’s disease (mean age = 51 ± 14; concussions per athlete = 15 ± 2), and 54 normal controls (mean age = 50 ± 13) through the Canadian Football League Alumni Association or the Canadian Concussion Center clinic in Toronto. Participants underwent MRI, flortaucipir PET, and a neuropsychological battery.
Concussions and mild traumatic brain injuries have previously been linked to tau brain pathology and associated with neurodegeneration in both Alzheimer’s disease and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) patients, the authors explained. However, while flortaucipir PET scans are approved in the USA and widely used for identifying patients with suspected Alzheimer’s disease, the utility of the scans for detecting tau pathology in CTE is still unclear, they noted. They hoped that the results of this research would shed light on this topic.
Results showed that tau-positive voxels on PET scans also had significantly lower grey matter volumes on MRI in the athletes, compared with tau-PET negative voxels. In addition, there was a significant relationship between these tau-PET positive measurements and patients who had lower memory scores.
“We found that tau-PET positive regions had lower grey matter volumes than did the tau PET negative regions, suggesting an underlying pathophysiological process causing grey matter atrophy,” the team commented. Additionally, the spatial pattern of the tau PET signal involved mostly frontal and temporal brain regions and extended posteriorly as levels increased, which is consistent with postmortem studies that reported tau pathology in patients with CTE. The team added that there was no relationship between tau PET measures and concussion number, or years of sport played.
This research provides valuable evidence that flortaucipir PET is able to identify neuropathological changes in retired athletes at risk of neurodegeneration, however, the authors highlighted that due to the level of debate around the topic, further research needs to be done.
Victoria Antoniou, EMJ
Reference
Vasilevskaya A et al. 18F-Flortaucipir (AV1451) imaging identifies grey matter atrophy in retired athletes. 2024;DOI:10.1007/s00415-024-12573-0.
