I’ve seen cross-sectional slices of brains confirmed to have CTE (Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy) and these slices all seem to differ greatly from a normal looking brain. Currently, why can’t a CTE diagnosis be confirmed with medical imaging, but only through autopsy?

Question

I’ve seen cross-sectional slices of brains confirmed to have CTE (Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy) and these slices all seem to differ greatly from a normal looking brain. Currently, why can’t a CTE diagnosis be confirmed with medical imaging, but only through autopsy?

In: 285

Answer 1

CTE causes brain matter to atrophy, or shrink. A lot of other diseases, like Alzheimer’s, can cause brain matter to atrophy as well, so it’s hard to look at a brain scan and know exactly what the disease is. You can make an educated guess based on patient history (ex. participation in contact sports and a history of concussions makes CTE a likely cause of the damage), but for now, doctors cannot know for certain what disease is causing the atrophy until they can actually sample the diseased tissue.

Source: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/chronic-traumatic-encephalopathy/