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The Zulewski report
By Tom Zulewski August 21, 2010 |
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In the late Lou Gehrig's career it might be possible that he might have contracted amyotrophic lateral sclerosis ALS the disease named after him by having concussions. Gehrig had four major concussions in his career according to Dr.Ann McKee associate professor of Neurology and Pathology at Boston University of Medicine. McKee this week announced that abnormal protein in the brain and spinal cord were found in two football players both players suffered from continuous head trauma and ended up with ALS. ALS is a neurodegenerative disease, it starts out as a weakness of the muscle and then quickly descends to paralysis and then the inability to breath and death follows. Jim Catfish Hunter who pitched for the Oakland A's and New York Yankees was a former linebacker and was an offensive tackle in football before he became in a pitcher. Hunter later got ALS and it could be possible he might have got a concussion playing football. Hunter died after falling down a flight of stairs in his home in Hertford North Carolina in 1999. Former KCBS 740 Newradio San Francisco anchor Al Hart's wife Sally passed away from ALS at age 64 in 2002. Hart's wife was not noted for playing any athletics and it's not know if she had suffered any concussions. ALS is a rare disease and is very complicated to say the least in solving but with Dr.McKee and her staff's arrivals at what causes the disease after studies of some of the athletes who suffered and died from ALS say head injuries might be possible to tie it all together, "when we looked at these three individuals (the two football players and a boxer) they had this hideous abnormal protein called TDP-43" said McKee who also is involved with Bedford V.A. Medical as director of Neuropathology. McKee this week said that abnormal amounts of TDP-43 in the brain and spine were evident to all athletes that she studied and it plays a role in the motor skills for those who contracted the disease and it was found in the nucleus of cells in the nervous system. Dr.McKee in studies of the brains examined said that there were high concentrations of TDP-43 which leaked out from the nucleus of cells which were found in the nervous system effecting the muscles and motor skills. While it is not conclusive that head trauma is the cause of ALS doctors who are studying the newest revelation seem to feel their making in roads. When comparing those who had ALS that did not play contact sports and did not get a concussion a study of Italian soccer players got ALS 11 fold higher. The study said, "one hypothesis proposed to explain these findings is that repeated neurotrauma associated with heading the ball may increase the risk of ALS." Lou Gerhig and Sally Hart both suffered from ALS quietly with little complaint and for decades to follow after Gerhig's death in 1942 there was thought that maybe there will never be a cure for ALS but doctors now are at the beginning stages of what causes the disease and if TDP-43 is that cause and if any adjustment can be made in the nervous system to offset the over protein imbalance medically or intravenously and surgery by fusing brain or spinal tissue to control amounts of TDP-43 it might be a solution to a cure for ALS down that long road. In the meantime Dr.McKee and many doctors doing this study have a while to confirm these new studies until that next step. Tom Zulewski files the report each week for Sportstalk |
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