4 ms·

from what I understand, it is currently a chemical test that requires a biopsy or tissue sample, which is difficult to get from the brain because well, you remo

• ulrikrasmussen 9y ago
  Right, that is to diagnose CTE post-mortem. But does CTE also cause other phyiscal symptoms which are just indistinguishable from regular Alzheimer's? For instance, would a person with CTE also have visible plaques on an MRI, or is the disease really invisible in the living? The fact that they found CTE in 110 out of 111 NFL players post-mortem should indicate that they had a pretty good idea about which players to pick for autopsy. Was those picks based on their history of psychological issues alone, or were there other indicators such as definite signs of Alzheimer's?
  • ddorian43 9y ago
    Many brain disease don't show on MRI (schizophrenia, depression, bipolar etc).
• ekianjo 9y ago
  brain biopsies are routinely performed for brain tumors so its not that uncommon.
  • throwanem 9y ago
    But that's to characterize a known lesion, which may require aggressive treatment depending upon its type, and will likely require excision in any case because its simple presence is likely causing some degree of pathological effect. This is a rather different situation, and while I'm not myself a neurosurgeon or indeed anything at all in the medical field except possibly an occasional annoyance, I tend to think that "hey, let's see if we'll find anything this time!" is probably not considered a sufficient reason to perform brain surgery. I could totally be wrong about that, though!