In 2018, NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt Jr., who retired in 2017 citing multiple concussions, became the first auto racing competitor agreeing to donate his brain upon his death.In related research, the Center for the Study of Retired Athletes, which is part of the Department of Exercise and Sport Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, is conducting research funded by National Football League Charities to "study former football players, a population with a high prevalence of exposure to prior Mild Traumatic Brain Injury (MTBI) and sub-concussive impacts, in order to investigate the association between increased football exposure and recurrent MTBI and neurodegenerative disorders such as cognitive impairment and Alzheimers disease (AD)".In February 2011, former NFL player Dave Duerson committed suicide via a gunshot to his chest, thus leaving his brain intact. Duerson left text messages to loved ones asking that his brain be donated to research for CTE. The family got in touch with representatives of the Boston University center studying the condition, said Robert Stern, the co-director of the research group. Stern said Duersons gift was the first time of which he was aware that such a request had been made by someone who had committed suicide that was potentially linked to CTE. Stern and his colleagues found high levels of the protein tau in Duersons brain. These elevated levels, which were abnormally clumped and pooled along the brain sulci, are indicative of CTE.In July 2010, NHL enforcer Bob Probert died of heart failure.
Because repeated impacts are thought to increase the likelihood of CTE development, a growing area of practice is improved recognition and treatment for concussions and other head trauma; removal from sport participation during recovery from these traumatic injuries is essential. Proper return-to-play protocol after possible brain injuries is also important in decreasing the significance of future impacts.Efforts are being made to change the rules of contact sports to reduce the frequency and severity of blows to the head. Examples of these rule changes are the evolution of tackling technique rules in American football, such as the banning of helmet-first tackles, and the addition of rules to protect defenseless players. Likewise, another growing area of debate is better implementation of rules already in place to protect athletes.Because of the concern that boxing may cause CTE, there is a movement among medical professionals to ban the sport. Medical professionals have called for such a ban as early as the 1950s. Management
No cure exists for CTE, and because it cannot be tested for until an autopsy is performed, people cannot know if they have it. Treatment is supportive as with other forms of dementia. Those with CTE-related symptoms may receive medication and non-medication related treatments. Epidemiology
Rates of disease have been found to be about 30% among those with a history of multiple head injuries. Population rates, however, are unclear.Professional level athletes are the largest group with CTE, due to frequent concussions and sub-concussive impacts from play in contact sport.