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Developing methods to detect and diagnose chronic traumatic encephalopathy during life: rationale, design, and methodology for the DIAGNOSE CTE Research Project
- Source :
- Alzheimer's Research & Therapy, Alzheimer’s Research & Therapy, Vol 13, Iss 1, Pp 1-23 (2021)
- Publication Year :
- 2021
- Publisher :
- Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2021.
-
Abstract
- BackgroundChronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is a neurodegenerative disease that has been neuropathologically diagnosed in brain donors exposed to repetitive head impacts, including boxers and American football, soccer, ice hockey, and rugby players. CTE cannot yet be diagnosed during life. In December 2015, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke awarded a seven-year grant (U01NS093334) to fund the “Diagnostics, Imaging, and Genetics Network for the Objective Study and Evaluation of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (DIAGNOSE CTE) Research Project.” The objectives of this multicenter project are to: develop in vivo fluid and neuroimaging biomarkers for CTE; characterize its clinical presentation; refine and validate clinical research diagnostic criteria (i.e., traumatic encephalopathy syndrome [TES]); examine repetitive head impact exposure, genetic, and other risk factors; and provide shared resources of anonymized data and biological samples to the research community. In this paper, we provide a detailed overview of the rationale, design, and methods for the DIAGNOSE CTE Research Project.MethodsThe targeted sample and sample size was 240 male participants, ages 45–74, including 120 former professional football players, 60 former collegiate football players, and 60 asymptomatic participants without a history of head trauma or participation in organized contact sports. Participants were evaluated at one of four U.S. sites and underwent the following baseline procedures: neurological and neuropsychological examinations; tau and amyloid positron emission tomography; magnetic resonance imaging and spectroscopy; lumbar puncture; blood and saliva collection; and standardized self-report measures of neuropsychiatric, cognitive, and daily functioning. Study partners completed similar informant-report measures. Follow-up evaluations were intended to be in-person and at 3 years post-baseline. Multidisciplinary diagnostic consensus conferences are held, and the reliability and validity of TES diagnostic criteria are examined.ResultsParticipant enrollment and all baseline evaluations were completed in February 2020. Three-year follow-up evaluations began in October 2019.However, in-person evaluation ceased with the COVID-19 pandemic, and resumed as remote, 4-year follow-up evaluations (including telephone-, online-, and videoconference-based cognitive, neuropsychiatric, and neurologic examinations, as well as in-home blood draw) in February 2021.ConclusionsFindings from the DIAGNOSE CTE Research Project should facilitate detection and diagnosis of CTE during life, and thereby accelerate research on risk factors, mechanisms, epidemiology, treatment, and prevention of CTE.Trial registrationNCT02798185
- Subjects :
- Male
Concussion
Remote assessment
Football
Neurodegenerative disease
Traumatic brain injury
Epidemiology
Traumatic encephalopathy syndrome
Medicine
Neuropsychology
Repetitive head impacts
Neurodegenerative Diseases
Middle Aged
Subconcussion
Neurology
Cognitive function
RC321-571
MRI
MRS
Positron emission tomography
medicine.medical_specialty
Cognitive Neuroscience
Neurosciences. Biological psychiatry. Neuropsychiatry
Neuroimaging
Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy
Ice hockey
Humans
College football
RC346-429
Pandemics
Aged
SARS-CoV-2
business.industry
Research
COVID-19
Reproducibility of Results
National Football League
medicine.disease
Head trauma
Chronic traumatic encephalopathy
Physical therapy
Neurology. Diseases of the nervous system
Neurology (clinical)
Tau
business
Biomarkers
Geriatric psychiatry
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 17589193
- Volume :
- 13
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Alzheimer's Research & Therapy
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....7823ddaa69e5e7bca05f6881cf71c24f