PET scan not effective in diagnosing chronic traumatic encephalopathy in former NFL players, study finds

Reviewed by Lily Ramsey, LLMJul 5 2023

A new study showed that positron emission tomography (PET) with the radiotracer (18F)-Flortaucipir (FTP) to detect hyperphosphorylated Tau (p-tau) may not be appropriate for diagnosing chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) neuropathologic changes in former professional American-style football players. The study is published in Journal of Neurotrauma.

Aaron Baggish, MD, from Massachusetts General Hospital, and coauthors, conducted a study that compared former professional players to age-matched male control participants who did not have repetitive head impact exposure. There were no significant differences in (18F)-FTP uptake among former players compared to control participants. Among the players, there were no associations between objective measures of neurocognitive functioning and (18F)-FTP uptake

"The absence of increased [18F]-FTP uptake in brain regions previously implicated in CTE among former professional ASF players compared to controls questions the utility of [18F]-FTP PET for clinical evaluation in this population," concluded the authors.

My congratulations to Dr. Dhaynaut, Dr. Grashow, and colleagues for performing a rigorous and well-executed study of (18F)-Flortaucipir PET in former professional American football players. The negative results are important, and not surprising given the well-known differences between the abnormal tau folds seen in Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy compared to those seen in Alzheimer's disease and other tauopathies. I am especially impressed by the rigor of the study design."

David L. Brody, MD, PhD, Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Neurotrauma