Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is a neurodegenerative disease linked to repeated trauma to the head. The encephalopathy symptoms can include behavioral problems, mood problems, and problems with thinking. The disease often gets worse over time and can result in dementia. It is unclear if the risk of suicide is altered.Most documented cases have occurred in athletes involved in striking-based combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, mixed martial arts, and Muay Thai—hence its original name dementia pugilistica (Latin for "fistfighters dementia")—and contact sports such as American football, Australian rules football, professional wrestling, ice hockey, rugby, and association football (soccer), in semi-contact sports such as baseball and basketball, and military combat arms occupations. Other risk factors include being in the military, prior domestic violence, and repeated banging of the head. The exact amount of trauma required for the condition to occur is unknown, and as of 2022 definitive diagnosis can only occur at autopsy. The disease is classified as a tauopathy.There is no specific treatment for the disease. Rates of CTE have been found to be about 30% among those with a history of multiple head injuries; however, population rates are unclear. Research in brain damage as a result of repeated head injuries began in the 1920s, at which time the condition was known as dementia pugilistica or "fistfighters dementia", "boxers madness", or "punch drunk syndrome". It has been proposed that the rules of some sports be changed as a means of prevention.
His autopsy revealed he was in very advanced stages of CTE with his brain being said to resemble that of an 87-year-old with advanced Alzheimers. In 2008, the Sports Legacy Institute joined with the Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) to form the Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy (now the BU CTE Center). Brain Injury Research Institute (BIRI) also studies the impact of concussions.In 2014, Patrick Grange of Albuquerque was the first US soccer player with CTE at autopsy. He was well known for his heading and had died in 2012.On April 7, 2021, former National Football League player Phillip Adams was found to have shot and killed six people, before killing himself a day later. A subsequent autopsy revealed at that the time of the shooting, Adams had an "unusually severe" case of chronic traumatic encephalopathy. Research
In 2005, forensic pathologist Bennet Omalu, along with colleagues in the Department of Pathology at the University of Pittsburgh, published a paper, "Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy in a National Football League Player", in the journal Neurosurgery, based on analysis of the brain of deceased former NFL center Mike Webster.