General Overview of CTE: Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE), a condition characterized by progressive neurodegeneration of the brain, was first diagnosed by Dr. Bennet Omalu in 2002. CTE affects those who have suffered multiple and repeated brain injuries, such as athletes of high contact sports and veterans of war and is only able to be diagnosed post-mortem. For example, much research has been centered on athletes that play football in the NFL. It is reported that over 90% of players who play at the professional level have some degree of this disease, regardless of the position played (Gregory, 2015). The reason that football players and athletes involved in high contact sports develop CTE is because of the high frequency of head injuries
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This film contains many neuroscience and health related topics that are relevant to CTE. For example, this film discusses the pathology of CTE through Dr. Omalu, a researcher who was played by Will Smith, who analyzed brains, tissues, and samples of deceased football players through autopsies. The main case that sparked the attention of Dr. Omalu was the case of Mike Webster, a former Steeler Football player who died of a heart attack at the age of fifty. In conducting an autopsy on Mr. Webster’s brain, he found no visible abnormalities of the brain. Dr. Omalu explained that there has not been “a single case in life where a man that healthy went that mad that young with no visible abnormality of the brain” (Scott, Cantillon, Wolthodd, Shuman & Landesman, 2015). He was fascinated and would not agree to stop until he found an answer as to why Mike Webster went so crazy so young. Other than suffering from a heart attack, he lost hold of his life. Laskas (2009) explains that he became very impulsive, destructive, and forgetful, ultimately ending up homeless and living in a truck. Dr. Omalu became fascinated with this case and despite his boss, Cyril Wecht, telling him to stick with protocol, he continued to analyze Webster’s brain. With that said, this movie shows how Dr. Omalu went on to slice, stain, and order slides of the hippocampus to further study the brain of Mike Webster. He studied the slides for weeks in his living room and after months went by, Omalu discovered hyperphosphorylation of tau proteins, which are responsible for killing regions of the brain that are in control of mood, emotions, and executive functioning; he finally discovered an answer to why Mike Webster went so crazy.
This film contains many neuroscience and health related topics that are relevant to CTE. For example, this film discusses the pathology of CTE through Dr. Omalu, a researcher who was played by Will Smith, who analyzed brains, tissues, and samples of deceased football players through autopsies. The main case that sparked the attention of Dr. Omalu was the case of Mike Webster, a former Steeler Football player who died of a heart attack at the age of fifty. In conducting an autopsy on Mr. Webster’s brain, he found no visible abnormalities of the brain. Dr. Omalu explained that there has not been “a single case in life where a man that healthy went that mad that young with no visible abnormality of the brain” (Scott, Cantillon, Wolthodd, Shuman & Landesman, 2015). He was fascinated and would not agree to stop until he found an answer as to why Mike Webster went so crazy so young. Other than suffering from a heart attack, he lost hold of his life. Laskas (2009) explains that he became very impulsive, destructive, and forgetful, ultimately ending up homeless and living in a truck. Dr. Omalu became fascinated with this case and despite his boss, Cyril Wecht, telling him to stick with protocol, he continued to analyze Webster’s brain. With that said, this movie shows how Dr. Omalu went on to slice, stain, and order slides of the hippocampus to further study the brain of Mike Webster. He studied the slides for weeks in his living room and after months went by, Omalu discovered hyperphosphorylation of tau proteins, which are responsible for killing regions of the brain that are in control of mood, emotions, and executive functioning; he finally discovered an answer to why Mike Webster went so crazy.