Hockey Player, 28, Had Brain Disease Linked to Hits to the Head
Derek Boogaard, a former National Hockey League player, had a degenerative brain
disease linked to repeated head trauma when he died in May at age 28, according
to researchers.
The disease, chronic traumatic encephalopathy, widely known as C.T.E., is a
close relative of Alzheimer’s disease
and has been diagnosed in the brains of
more than 20 former football players.
It can be diagnosed only posthumously.
The researchers at the Boston University Center for the Study of Traumatic
Encephalopathy who examined Boogaard’s brain said the case was particularly
sobering because Boogaard was a young, high-profile athlete, dead in midcareer,
with a surprisingly advanced degree of brain damage.
“To see this amount? That’s a ‘wow’ moment,” said Ann McKee, a neuropathologist
and a co-director of the center.
Boogaard was one of the sport’s most feared fighters, filling the role of
enforcer for the Minnesota Wild and the New York Rangers. Over six seasons in
the N.H.L., he accrued three goals and 589 minutes in penalties. On May 13, his
brothers found him dead of an accidental overdose in his Minneapolis apartment.
The degenerative disease has been found in the brains of all four former N.H.L.
players examined by the Boston University researchers. The others were Bob
Probert,, who died at age 45; Reggie Fleming, 73; and Rick Martin, 59.
Read More:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/06/sports/hockey/derek-boogaard-a-brain-going-bad.html?emc=na
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