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Emerging histomorphologic phenotypes of chronic traumatic encephalopathy in American athletes
Omalu B, Bailes J, Hamilton RL, Kamboh MI, Hammers J, Case M, Fitzsimmons R.. Neurosurgery, 2011-07-01
Topic: Brain proteins, microglia and lab models
Background We define chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) as a progressive neurodegenerative syndrome caused by single, episodic, or repetitive blunt force impacts to the head and transfer of acceleration-deceleration forces to the brain. Objective We present emerging histomorphologic phenotypes of CTE that we identified in our cohort of CTE cases with apolipoprotein E genotyping and causes and manners of death. Methods Autopsy brain tissue of 14 professional athletes and 3 high school football players was examined after unexpected deaths. Histochemical and immunohistochemical tissue staining was performed with apolipoprotein E genotyping. Results Ten of 14 professional athletes (71%) were positive for CTE: 7 of 8 football players, 2 of 4 wrestlers, and 1 boxer. One of 3 high school players manifested incipient CTE. The age range of those with CTE was 18 to 52 years; they were all male athletes. In all cases of CTE, Alzheimer-type cerebral cortical atrophy was absent; negligible to mild neocortical neuronal dropout was present. The fundamental neuropathologic feature of CTE was the topographic distribution of sparse, moderate, and frequent band-shaped, flame-shaped, small and large globose neurofibrillary tangles and neuritic threads in the cerebral cortex, subcortical nuclei/basal ganglia, hippocampus, and brainstem nuclei. Sparse to frequent diffuse amyloid plaques may accompany tauopathy and was seen in only 2 CTE cases. No α-synucleinopathy was present. All 7 CTE-positive professional athletes with known apolipoprotein E genotypes had at least 1 E3 allele comprising 5 E3/E3 (71%) and 2 E3/E4 (29%). Alcohol- and drug-related deaths, suicides, and accidental deaths were overrepresented in our CTE cohort. Conclusion The emerging histomorphologic features of our CTE cohort may specify histologic criteria for CTE diagnosis, may identify emerging histologic variants of CTE and may facilitate more objective surveillance and accurate identification of sentinel CTE cases.
Key findings
- Results Ten of 14 professional athletes (71%) were positive for CTE: 7 of 8 football players, 2 of 4 wrestlers, and 1 boxer.
Study details
- Evidence strengthModerate
How this study scored 40/100
Published in a peer-reviewed journal. Scored zero for study design, sample size, effect reported, studied in people and randomised / blinded because the record does not state it. We have no data on journal's citation record, times cited, citations per year, impact for its field and year, cited by studies here, still being cited, senior author's track record, institution's track record and multi-centre collaboration, so those were left out: it earned 23 of the 58 points we could judge it on, which is 40 out of 100.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 7 / 10 | Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (Neurosurgery) |
| Journal's citation record | — / 4 | No journal record from OpenAlex — left out of this score |
| Study design | 0 / 12 | No study design recorded — scores zero, not guessed (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Strength of evidence | 3 / 5 | Rated “moderate” in our summary |
| Peer-review validation | 10 / 10 | Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal. |
| How recent | 1 / 5 | 2011 — within 20 year(s) of the newest study here |
| Sample size | 0 / 4 | Participant count not stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Effect reported | 0 / 3 | No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Studied in people | 0 / 3 | Not stated whether this was studied in people — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Randomised / blinded | 0 / 2 | No randomisation or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Times cited | — / 7 | No citation count (not found in OpenAlex) — left out of this score |
| Citations per year | — / 5 | No citation count or no year — left out of this score |
| Impact for its field and year | — / 6 | No field-weighted citation impact (OpenAlex has none yet) — left out of this score |
| Cited by studies here | — / 6 | Not yet checked against this library's citation graph — left out of this score |
| Still being cited | — / 4 | No yearly citation counts — left out of this score |
| Senior author's track record | — / 4 | Senior author's record not available — left out of this score |
| Institution's track record | — / 3 | No institution listed in OpenAlex — left out of this score |
| Multi-centre collaboration | — / 3 | Institutions not listed — left out of this score |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 21358359) |
| Free to read | 0 / 2 | Behind a paywall — scores zero |
| Points | 23 / 58 | Scored on 11 of 20 parts. We have no data for the rest, so they are left out: 23 of the 58 points we could judge it on is 40 out of 100. |
| Total | 40 / 100 | — |
What each of these 20 components measures, and what this score is not →
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Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris
Built from the record alzhub holds for this paper, not looked up. Volume, issue and page numbers are not held in the record. The record names 7 authors; APA and Vancouver show the first six, BibTeX and the downloads carry all of them. Check the citation against the original before you use it.
APA 7th
Omalu, B., Bailes, J., Hamilton, R. L., Kamboh, M. I., Hammers, J., Case, M., et al. (2011). Emerging histomorphologic phenotypes of chronic traumatic encephalopathy in American athletes. Neurosurgery. https://doi.org/10.1227/neu.0b013e318212bc7b
Vancouver
Omalu B, Bailes J, Hamilton RL, Kamboh MI, Hammers J, Case M, et al. Emerging histomorphologic phenotypes of chronic traumatic encephalopathy in American athletes. Neurosurgery. 2011. doi:10.1227/neu.0b013e318212bc7b. PMID: 21358359.
BibTeX
@article{omalu2011-21358359,
author = {Omalu, B. and Bailes, J. and Hamilton, R. L. and Kamboh, M. I. and Hammers, J. and Case, M. and Fitzsimmons, R.},
title = {{Emerging histomorphologic phenotypes of chronic traumatic encephalopathy in American athletes}},
journal = {Neurosurgery},
year = {2011},
doi = {10.1227/neu.0b013e318212bc7b},
pmid = {21358359},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1227/neu.0b013e318212bc7b}
}
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