Citation

Pearce AJ, Sy J, Lee M, Harding A, Mobbs R, Batchelor J, Suter CM, Buckland ME. Acta Neuropathol. Commun. 2020; 8(1): e23.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group - BMC)

DOI

10.1186/s40478-020-0895-z

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The first case report of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in a National Football League player in 2005 [9] opened the floodgates for the identification of CTE in American football. CTE is now reported in ex-players of other contact sports, including ice hockey, soccer, rugby union, and most recently in Australian rugby league [2]. To date, repetitive head injury remains the only known risk factor for the development of CTE [3]. Here we describe the first case of CTE in Australian rules football (ARF), the most popular contact sport in Australia.

The decedent was a male in his 9th decade who had played more than 350 first-grade matches of ARF over 19 years. At age 64 he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease (AD), with accompanying personality change, depression and anger/aggression issues around this time. He had been diagnosed with REM sleep behaviour disorder several years prior to his presumptive AD diagnosis. His cognitive issues were dominated by memory loss, which was slowly progressive until a distinct acceleration in the last ~ 5 years of life. Mild Parkinsonian features of uncertain aetiology were identified several years after his AD diagnosis, possibly related to low-dose antipsychotic medication. He also had intercurrent ischaemic heart disease, hypercholesterolaemia, and hypertension, all of which were well managed. He did not use alcohol, tobacco, or illicit drugs.

Keywords: Australian football

Language: en