Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy




A 63-year-old man presented with progressive memory, concentration, mood, and behavior problems over several years. He was a veteran of the army for six years in his twenties, and reported being “knocked out” or “dazed” more than a dozen times while in combat. In the army he also boxed competitively for several years and frequently had his “bell rung,” although he reported only being knocked unconscious five times. After the army he married and owned a successful small business. For the past 4–5 years his wife noted that he became increasingly withdrawn and moody. After making several poor financial decisions he closed down his business. In the last three years he began very uncharacteristic behaviors including yelling and “flying off the handle” over minor issues. His primary care physician referred him to a psychiatrist who prescribed fluoxetine, which improved his mood and anger. Two years ago his mood and anger worsened, and increasing doses of fluoxetine and other selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) could not control the symptoms; after an episode of physical aggression toward his wife risperidone was prescribed. In the past year he had clear-cut impairment of his concentration, memory, and function. His wife notes that he now has “no short-term memory” and that he “does nothing” all day long. Neurological examination revealed mild bilateral 3–4 Hz tremor present at rest and with action. He scored 15 on the MoCA, making errors on the visuospatial/executive, attention, delayed recall, and orientation sections. Head CT revealed atrophy (most notably in hippocampi and frontal lobes, bilaterally) and a cavum septum pellucidum.



Quick Start

Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy
























Definition and etiology


  • Chronic traumatic encephalopathy is a progressive neurodegenerative disease associated with repetitive brain trauma.

Cognitive and behavioral symptoms, in order of prevalence at presentation


  • Memory impairment



  • Executive dysfunction



  • Attention and concentration difficulties



  • Sadness/depression



  • Hopelessness



  • Explosivity



  • Language impairment



  • Visuospatial difficulties



  • “Out of control”



  • Physically violent



  • Verbally violent



  • Impulse control problems



  • Suicidal ideation/attempts

Summary of diagnostic criteria General Criteria for Traumatic Encephalopathy Syndrome: All five criteria must be met:


  • 1.

    History of multiple impacts to the head


  • 2.

    No other neurological disorder present that likely accounts for all clinical features


  • 3.

    Clinical features must be present for a minimum of 12 months


  • 4.

    At least one Core Clinical Feature must be present and considered a change from baseline


  • 5.

    At least two Supportive Features must be present


Core Clinical Features of Traumatic Encephalopathy Syndrome: At least one must be met:


  • 1.

    Cognitive. Difficulties in cognition substantiated by impairment on standardized tests


  • 2.

    Behavioral. Emotionally explosive, physically and/or verbally violent


  • 3.

    Mood. Feeling overly sad, depressed, and/or hopeless


Supportive Features of Traumatic Encephalopathy Syndrome: At least two must be present: (1) Impulsivity, (2) Anxiety, (3) Apathy, (4) Paranoia, (5) Suicidality, (6) Headache, (7) Motor Signs, including dysarthria and features of parkinsonism, (8) Documented Decline, for a minimum of one year, (9) Delayed Onset, at least two years.
Traumatic encephalopathy syndrome diagnostic subtypes: (1) Behavioral/Mood Variant, (2) Cognitive Variant, (3) Mixed Variant, (4) Dementia.
Imaging findings


  • Cavum septum pellucidum is commonly seen on MRI or CT. Atrophy and hypofunction are typically observed in medial temporal and in frontal lobes.

Treatment


  • Treatment is supportive. Cholinesterase inhibitors, memantine, and SSRIs can be tried.

Top differential diagnoses


  • Alzheimer’s disease, dementia with Lewy bodies, frontotemporal dementia, vascular dementia, progressive supranuclear palsy, corticobasal degeneration, and normal pressure hydrocephalus.





Prevalence, Definition, Pathology, and Pathophysiology


There is increasing evidence that head trauma may be associated with encephalopathy and dementia later in life. The exact pathogenesis of how head trauma at one point in life can cause dementia decades later is complex and is still being determined. We do know that, in addition to causing an encephalopathy that is maximal at the time of the head injury and generally improves (though not necessarily back to baseline), repetitive head injury has been associated with chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a progressive tauopathy with distinctive clinical and pathological features ( ) (see Table 13-1 and Fig. 13-1 ).



TABLE 13-1

Pathologic and Clinical Stages of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy
























Stage Pathology Clinical Symptoms and Signs
I Perivascular phospho-tau neurofibrillary tangles in focal epicenters at the depths of the sulci in frontal cortex Headache, loss of attention and concentration
II Stage I plus neurofibrillary tangles in superficial cortical layers adjacent to the focal epicenters and in the nucleus basalis of Meynert and locus coeruleus Depression and mood swings, explosivity, loss of attention and concentration, headache, and short-term memory loss
III Stage II plus mild cerebral atrophy, septal abnormalities, ventricular dilatation, concave third ventricle, depigmentation of locus ceoruleus and substantia nigra, dense phospho-tau pathology in the cortex, medial temporal lobe, diencephalon, brainstem, and spinal cord Cognitive impairment with memory loss, executive dysfunction, loss of attention and concentration, depression, explosivity, and visuospatial abnormalities
IV Stage III plus further cerebral, medial temporal lobe, hypothalamic, thalamic, and mammillary body atrophy, septal abnormalities, ventricular dilation, and pallor of substantia nigra and locus coeruleus; phospho-tau in widespread regions including white matter, with prominent neuronal loss, gliosis of cortex, and hippocampal sclerosis Dementia with profound short-term memory loss, executive dysfunction, attention and concentration loss, explosivity, and aggression. Most also show paranoia, depression, impulsivity, and visuospatial abnormalities. Many also have parkinsonism, speech, and gait abnormalities

From McKee, et al., 2013. Brain 136, 43–64.



FIGURE 13-1


Pathology of chronic traumatic encephalopathy.

Gross pathology (A) shows atrophy of cerebral hemispheres, medial temporal lobes, ventricular dilatation, and a fenestrated cavum septum pellucidum (arrow). Whole-mount 50-mm-thick coronal sections show dense deposition of tau protein in medial temporal lobe structures, with less dense deposition elsewhere in the cortex in two cases (B) . Microscopic views of the same two cases showing prominent perivascular collections of neurofibrillary and astrocytic tangles evident in the superficial cortical layers with lesser involvement of the deep laminae (C) . Note that this pathology is different from that of Alzheimer’s disease (see Chapter 4 ).

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Sep 9, 2018 | Posted by in NEUROLOGY | Comments Off on Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy

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