Researchers came to know that an NFL (National Football League of America) veteran, who played almost for 12 years, was suffering from a disease called chronic traumatic encephalopathy.
Four years before his death, a brain scan revealed that the player had some major issues in the brain. His autopsy report confirmed that he had CTE. The researchers are now hoping to help all those players who are battling with the same condition.
However, the player's name is not revealed yet but reports claim that at the age of 59, he did a brain scan, as he showed drastic mood changes.
According to USA Today, Julian Bailes, the co-director of NorthShore University HealthSystem in Evanston, Ill, said about the scan reports that "Our impression has been (CTE) is a unique pattern."
"This is the first to have that brain specimen correlation. It was very nice to get that scientific confirmation of that scientific truth," he further added.
According to the format of American soccer, repetitive head traumas are common in players. Scientists claim that CTE and the head injuries during football matches are linked together which provokes a neurodegenerative brain disease.
However, scientists are not sure as to why only a few players suffer from such issues and not every player, as head injuries are common in the game, is not known. They are researching on the genetic factors and are looking for the number of head injuries, which will help the scientists to figure out the actual reason behind the disease.
Bennet Omalu, the American physician discovered CTE in Pittsburgh Steelers center Mike Webster in 2002. Omalu and Bailes had said that after analyzing scan reports of former players and service men and women they found various signs of the disease.
Reports of the former NFL line-breaker stated that there were spots throughout his brain and those were related to CTE.
On the other hand, Bailes, who chairs the department of neurosurgery at NorthShore talked about the former player's medical reports and said, "they believe this scan is unique. (The damage) is not seen in other degenerative brain diseases"
Reports also said that the NFL ace was also suffering from a nervous system disease that weakens muscles and impacts physical function, which is called ALS at the age of 61 and died when he was 63.
However, according to Bailes since researchers are still searching for similar cases to understand the disease, it is impossible for them to analyze a particular scan and announce that he or she has CTE.
"It's only one case report, but that's the way science begins," Bailes said.
"There's more to understanding, but this is a nice demonstration of the correlation between a living scan and an autopsy of the brain," he concluded.
