A project hailed as having the potential to revolutionise understanding of the consequences of repetitive head impacts and injury in sport is being launched in the US.
Project S.A.V.E (the Study of the Axonal and Vascular Effects from Repetitive Head Impacts) builds further on the work of the Boston University CTE Center, which has redefined knowledge of the long-term effects of repetitive head impacts from sports like football, ice hockey, soccer and rugby.
Through their study of hundreds of brain donors, Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) has been identified as a potential contributor to dementia, cognitive decline and neuropsychiatric dysfunction in people with a history of repetitive traumatic brain injuries.
However, important knowledge gaps exist and many critical questions remain, including why CTE causes changes in thinking, memory, mood and behaviour – which is the reason for Project S.A.V.E.
To close those gaps, Dr Michael L. Alosco, associate professor of neurology at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM), will lead the study, which has secured a three-year $2.3million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and the National Institute on Aging (NIA).
Working with co-principal investigator Dr Ann McKee, the William Fairfield Warren Distinguished Professor of Neurology and Pathology at Boston University, the team will examine if repetitive head impacts from contact sports damage the white matter and vascular system of the brain to lead to long-term problems with cognitive function, mood and behaviour, and dementia.
“This study has the potential to revolutionise our understanding of the complex changes found in the brains of individuals exposed to repetitive head impacts, and open the door to new pathways to intervention and prevention for millions at risk,” said Dr Alosco.
Project S.A.V.E. will recruit 200 former men and women athletes, aged 50 and over, from different contact sports, and 100 demographically-similar people with no history of repetitive head impacts or traumatic brain injury.
Dr Chris Nowinski, founder of the Concussion Legacy Foundation – who himself has helped to redefine understanding of CTE through his work, and recently expanded that into the UK through the creation of the Concussion Legacy Project – will lead recruitment efforts.
Participants will enrol into the NIA-funded Boston University Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (BU ADRC) to complete neurological, cognitive and neuropsychiatric exams, multimodal MRI, and blood draws. The information will be analysed for white matter degeneration and cerebrovascular disease.
The investigators will leverage tissue from several brain banks at BU, including the Veteran Affairs-Boston University-Concussion Legacy Foundation (VA-BU-CLF) and the BU ADRC brain banks, to compare differences and similarities in the white matter and vasculature of deceased individuals with and without a history of repetitive head impacts and traumatic brain injury.
The researchers believe this work will lead to unprecedented data sets to increase understanding of the relationships between repetitive head impacts, white matter injury, and the risk for cognitive and neuropsychiatric impairment in contact sport athletes.
