Encephalopathies are a group of diseases characterized by a structural and functional alteration of the brain.
Congenital or acquired, an encephalopathy can last a lifetime ( permanent encephalopathy ) or may have a more or less important margin of healing ( temporary encephalopathy ).
The various types of encephalopathy differ from each other due to the triggering causes - to which they usually owe their names - for the symptoms, for the complications, for the treatment and for the prognosis.
A form of encephalopathy widespread among those who once practiced contact sports and commonly receiving many blows to the head is the so-called chronic traumatic encephalopathy ( CTE ).
This particular pathology can also arise several decades after withdrawal from sporting practice (NB: some individuals show the first manifestations even in old age) and has a progressive character, that is, it goes inexorably worse over time.
According to various research, conducted mainly in the United States, there are three pathological stages, during which the symptomatic picture evolves considerably:
- During the first stage, patients show a decrease in attention, lack of concentration, amnesia (ie memory loss), mood swings and small affective disorders.
- During the second stage, the sick report a worsening of amnesia and behavioral instability, confusion, disorientation and sometimes headaches and dizziness. In some ways the symptomatology is very reminiscent of Parkinson's disease.
- During the third and final stage, patients have a severe form of dementia, difficulty understanding things, speech problems, tremors, slowing of movement, deafness, paralysis, "mask facies" and strong vertigo.
In addition to these symptoms, other problems may sometimes appear, such as dysarthria, dysphagia and ocular ptosis.
POSTMORTEM DIAGNOSIS
The only way to establish with certainty whether certain neurological disorders are due or not to a chronic traumatic encephalopathy is to analyze brain tissue after death, during an autopsy ( postmortem diagnosis ).In fact, before death, the only useful information on a diagnostic level comes from the analysis of symptoms and the patient's past history.
OTHER NAME
Chronic traumatic encephalopathy is also called " boxing dementia " because it was once typical of boxers.SPORTS AT RISK AND OTHER FAVORABLE FACTORS
In addition to boxing, sports at risk from CTE are: American football, rugby, ice hockey and wrestling.Several studies have also confirmed that they are at risk:
- The soldiers who, in the war zones, are involved in continuous explosions.
- Those who suffer from chronic epilepsy, because, during an attack, they could bang their heads somewhere.
- Those who have been repeatedly victims of domestic abuse . Even in this case, occasional head injuries are the possible cause.
