Transcript Slide 1

Top Ten Reasons God Did
Not Get Tenured
1. He had only one major publication.
2. It had no references.
3. It wasn't published in a refereed journal.
4. Some even doubt he wrote it himself.
5. It may be true that he created the world,
but what has he done since then?
Top Ten Reasons God Did
Not Get Tenured
6. His cooperative efforts have been quite
limited.
7. The scientific community has had a
hard time replicating his results.
8. His office hours were infrequent and
usually held on a mountaintop.
9. When one experiment went awry he tried
to cover it up by drowning the subjects.
10. He never applied to the Ethics Board or
IRB for permission to use human subjects.
Concussion in SportsNeuropsychiatric Implications:
Where we are, where we are going
1st International Conference on Translational
Medicine
Nov. 3, 2010 Canberra, Australia
David Baron
Director, Global Center for Exercise, Psychiatry and Sport
USC
WPA
Goals and Objectives
Discuss Translational
Process
Over view of Concussion in
Sports
Translational Process
• Original concept
– Bench to bedside
• Expanded to public health
– Culture change
• Preclinical scientists>
clinicians>policy makers(health and
governmental)>educators
• Avoid State of the Shelf science
– Blind man and the elephant
phenomena
Concussion: Introduction
• An estimated 1.6- 3.8 million sportsrelated concussions occur annually in
the United States
• 86,000- 134,000 of these concussions
are sustained by high school students
• Acutely, concussions can cause a
broad range of psychiatric defects,
including depression, anxiety, and
cognitive impairment
Concussion: Introduction
• Long term consequences of multiple
concussions or multiple
subconcussive blows are potentially
more serious, with the deposition of
tau deposits throughout the brain,
and resultant early onset dementia
and movement disorders
Definition of Concussion
(International Consensus)
• A complex pathophysiological process
affecting the brain, induced by
traumatic biomechanical forces
• Caused by direct blow to the head, face,
neck, or elsewhere on the body with
“impulsive” force transmitted to the head.
Definition of Concussion
(International Consensus)
• Often rapid onset
• Often short-term impairment of
neurologic function that resolves
spontaneously
• May result in neuropathological
changes, but acute clinical
symptoms reflect functional
disturbance rather than structural
Definition of Concussion
(International Consensus)
• Results in graded set of clinical
symptoms
• May or may not involve loss of
consciousness
• Resolution of clinical and cognitive
symptoms typically follows
sequential course
Definition of Concussion
(International Consensus)
• Small percentage of cases have
prolonged post-concussive
symptoms (10-20%)
• No abnormality found on
standard structural neuroimaging
(CT or standard MRI)
Classification of Concussion
• At least 25 grading systems currently
in use
• Aimed at characterizing concussion
severity and prognosis
– And subsequently return to play
decisions
• No scientific agreement on which is
best
International Conferences on
Concussion in Sport- Issues
addressed
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Definition
Classification
Evaluation
Management
Modifying Factors
– Factors that may alter evaluation and
management
– Factors that predict prolonged or
persistent symptoms
Is There any Consensus on
Concussion?
• 3 separate conferences in last 9
years aimed at reaching consensus
of understanding and management
of sports concussions
• Consensus decisions reached by
votes from a panel of international
concussion experts (Concussion in
Sports Group or CISG)
Is There any Consensus on
Concussion?
– 1st International Conference on
Concussion in Sport, Vienna 2001
– 2nd International Conference on
Concussion in Sport, Prague 2004
– 3rd International Conference on
Concussion in Sport held in Zurich,
November 2008
Classification of Concussion
• The international Concussion in
Sports Group (CISG) does not
endorse any single grading system
• Concussion severity can only be
determined in retrospect:
– After all concussion symptoms clear
– After neurological examination normal
– After cognitive function returns to
baseline
Concussion Laws
Concussion Laws
• In October 2007, under pressure
from congress and media NFL made
dramatic changes in its handling of
concussion
– For the first time acknowledged that
concussions lead to long-term
problems
– Return to play decisions made only by
a independent neurologists
– Resignation of NFL Concussion
Committee’s 2 co-chairmen
Concussion Laws
• In May 2009, the state of
Washington passed a new bill called
the Lystedt Law
– Requires any youth showing signs of a
concussion be examined and cleared
by a licensed health care provider
before being allowed to return to play
Concussion Laws
– Named after Zackery Lystedt, a young
athlete permanently disabled after
sustaining a concussion in 2006, and
prematurely returning to the game
Chronic Traumatic
Encephalopathy
ALS or CTE?
• Doctors at Veterans Affairs Medical
Center in Bedford, MA and Boston
University School of Medicine
recently discovered by autopsy that 2
NFL players and 1 boxer diagnosed
with ALS really had a variant of CTE
• Similar findings in deceased soldiers
previously diagnosed with ALS
Chronic Traumatic
Encephalopathy (CTE)
• First described by Dr. Harrison
Stanford Martland, a pathologist, in
1928 (“punch drunk syndrome”)
• Later called “Dementia Pugilistica”,
and more recently, “Chronic
Traumatic Encephalopathy”
• An estimated 17% of retired
professional boxers will develop
chronic traumatic encephalopathy
Chronic Traumatic
Encephalopathy
• Highest incidence in boxers and NFL
linemen, although cases have been
described in a soccer player,
wrestler, epileptics, head bangers,
and domestic abuse victims
Chronic Traumatic
Encephalopathy
• May result from single concussion,
although more frequently results
from repeated concussions or
subconcussive blows
• Can present upon retirement or
years later
Chronic Traumatic
Encephalopathy
• Common presenting symptoms include:
– memory loss
– irritability
– outbursts of aggressive or violent behavior
– confusion
– speech abnormalities
– cognitive decline/dementia
– gait abnormalities
Chronic Traumatic
Encephalopathy
• Often times there is a mood
disturbance as well:
– depression (often with suicidal
ideation)
– bipolarity
• Often accompanied by psychosis in
the form of paranoid ideation
• Often times culminates in suicidal
behavior
Chronic Traumatic
Encephalopathy
• Microscopic Pathology: neuronal loss
and gliosis with Tau deposition
• Hippocampus, entorhinal cortex→ memory
disturbances
• Amygdala→ mood disorders
• Frontal and Temporal cortices→
dysexecutive symptoms, cognitive deficits
• Substantia nigra→ parkinsonism
• Brainstem white matter tracts (including
cerebellar tracts)→ Ataxia, gait
abnormalities
Chronic Traumatic
Encephalopathy
• Gross brain pathology (may or may
not have)
– Reduction in brain weight
– Enlargement of lateral and 3rd ventricles
– Thinning of Corpus callosum
– Cavum septum pellucidum with
fenestrations
– Scarring and neuronal loss of cerebellar
tonsils
Tau Deposits: Frontal Lobe
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Tau Deposits: Brain Stem
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Pathophysiology
• No existing animal or experimental
models (not fully elucidated)
• Impaired neurotransmission
– Excessive release of excitatory
neurotransmitter glutamate
• Neurotoxicity
• Opening of ion channels, leading to
dysregulation of ions in the brain
Pathophysiology
• Dysregulation of ions
– Causes strain on ion pumps
• Leads to increased energy demand
• Hypermetabolic state
– Larger than normal amounts of glucose
consumed
• Reduction of cerebral blood flow
– Combined with hypermetabolic state,
results in “energy crisis”
Translational issues
• Need better longitudinal data on
consequences of multiple sub-clinical
concussions
• Need to change culture in collision
sports-acknowledge the long term
risks
• Data needed from pitch to bench