Updates in Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE)

Dr. Ann McKee describes the emergence of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) as a distinct disease over the past 20 years.

Since 2003, hundreds of individuals have been diagnosed at postmortem examination with CTE. CTE has been reported in amateur and professional athletes, military service members, and individuals exposed to head banging, interpersonal violence, and poorly controlled epilepsy. The pathology of CTE is unique, characterized by a pathognomonic lesion consisting of a perivascular accumulation of neuronal phosphorylated tau (p-tau) at the depths of the cortical sulci and a distinctive molecular structural configuration of p-tau fibrils that is unlike the changes observed with aging, Alzheimer’s disease, or any other tauopathy.