Dr. Howard Smith Oncall

Vidcast:  https://www.instagram.com/p/DSBOuigCYAJ/We know that repeated head trauma damages the brain leading to dementia and ultimately death, the consequences of so-called Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy or CTE. The mechanism of damage is known to be brain bouncing against the hard skull.  A new study from radiologists at the University of Alabama, the Cleveland Clinic, and the University of Arkansas to be presented this month at the Radiological Society of North America’s annual meeting suggests yet another mechanism of damage.The researchers reviewed MR imaging from 280 cognitively impaired fighters and and 20 non-fighting controls.  They found that repeated head trauma damages the brain’s glymphatic system that plays a vital cleanup role by flushing out toxic materials.  Changes to this system due to brain injury appear before more serious cognitive deficits and can be used as an early warning sign of impending CTE.This study, if confirmed, suggests that MR brain imaging and glymphatic system analysis c