OTL: Belchers brain showed signs of CTE

[penbrook]

Outside The LInes | September 29, 2014
The brain of former Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher -- the 25-year-old player who shot and killed his girlfriend in 2012 before committing suicide hours later -- showed signs of pervasive brain damage like that found in other deceased NFL players, according to a neuropathologist.

In a report obtained by "Outside the Lines," Dr. Piotr Kozlowski writes that he detected neurofibrillary tangles of tau protein, which is identified with chronic traumatic encephalopathy. The tangles were distributed throughout Belcher's hippocampus, an area of the brain involved with memory, learning and emotion.


Jeff Curry/USA TODAY Sports
Jovan Belcher fatally shot his girlfriend, Kasandra Perkins, multiple times before killing himself at Arrowhead Stadium on Dec. 1, 2012.
Dozens of former NFL players have been diagnosed posthumously with CTE, a neurodegenerative disease linked to dementia, memory loss and depression. The disease, researchers say, is triggered by repeated head trauma.

On Dec. 1, 2012, Belcher shot and killed girlfriend Kasandra Perkins, the mother of his then-3-month-old daughter. Belcher then drove to the Chiefs practice facility, where he shot himself in front of team officials in the parking lot. While the murder-suicide reignited the debate over athletes and guns, it also increased the focus on a frequently overlooked issue at the time: the NFL's domestic violence problem.

Belcher's body was exhumed one year after his death, and his brain examined two weeks later. Kozlowski was hired to diagnose the brain by court-appointed Kansas City attorneys who represent the interests of Belcher's daughter. Belcher's mother, Cheryl Shepherd, initiated the process of exhuming her son's body in order to have his brain studied, attorney Dirk Vandever said.

Vandever declined to comment about why his law firm released Kozlowski's findings now, almost nine months after the diagnosis. "Outside the Lines" requested copies of images of Belcher's brain to send to another neuropathologist for independent analysis, but that request was denied.

Neurosurgeon Dr. Julian Bailes, chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery and co-director of the North Shore Neurological Institute in Chicago, did not study Belcher's brain, but said of the possible findings: "It is of great interest. Violence against others is not typically part of the CTE picture. But it was in the case of [former professional] wrestler Chris Benoit. It would be nice to have these findings corroborated.

"If correct, they're very compelling."

If it can be shown that Belcher did have CTE, Belcher's daughter and mother, together, would be eligible for up to $4 million under the proposed concussion settlement between the NFL and former players. Furthermore, the lawyers representing Belcher's daughter have filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against the Chiefs on her behalf. Belcher's mother, with different attorneys, filed an almost identical suit.

Among the lawsuits' allegations is that Belcher was knocked unconscious during a game against the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2009 and did not receive adequate treatment. The lawsuits also refer to a November 2012 game against the Cincinnati Bengals when, the lawsuits allege, Belcher "suffered what should have been recognized as an acute concussion." However, the lawsuit continues, "despite exhibiting obvious symptoms, Decedent was never removed from play for evaluation and recovery." The lawsuits also claim Belcher exhibited signs of CTE, including changes in his mood and behavior.

Kozlowski, through Vandever, was not made available for comment. According to the American Board of Pathology, he is certified in Anatomic Pathology and Neuropathology. He was formerly a program director at the NIH Institute for Neurological Disorders and Stroke in Maryland. Kozlowski serves as the dean of research and pathology professor at the Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine in New York City.

Vandever said Belcher's mother had the idea of having her son's brain studied after reading multiple reports about football players and CTE. He declined to discuss why Kozlowski was chosen as opposed to researchers who are more experienced in the study of CTE and football players -- those from Boston University and the National Institutes of Health, for example.

As for Belcher's brain being examined slightly more than a year after his death, Kozlowski's report refers to some brain decomposition, with certain parts better preserved than others. Bailes said it is possible to find evidence of tau protein and CTE-like changes a year after a death.

Bailes, who has studied the connection between football players and head injuries, worked on the case of Andre Waters, the former Philadelphia Eagles safety who committed suicide by shooting himself in the head. "Even in this case of a gunshot wound to his brain, it was possible to diagnose him with CTE," Bailes said of Waters.

[Titty Meat]

Originally Posted by saphojunkie

In ten years, you will care more about Sporting KC than you will the Chiefs. Football is dying. Futbol is growing.

At least Kansas City is ahead of the curve for once in its life.

Nobody cares about minor league soccer look up the ratings.

[Pasta Little Brioni]

Originally Posted by Baconeater

Give it a ****ing rest already. I'd rather watch a ****ing TV test pattern for 3 hours than a soccer game.

I would rather read a de berg thread

[philfree]

A lot of players have played 10 plus years of football before they even get to the NFL. Awareness is growing but why does the NFL get all the blame? I guess only concussions that happen in the NFL cause CTE.

[nychief]

Well, you don't say.

[Titty Meat]

Originally Posted by Pasta Giant Meatball

I would rather read a de berg thread

I would rather have sex with those wilderbeast you pull from the bar

[Saul Good]

I'm sure his brain did show signs of damage from concussions. It bounced off the parking lot pretty hard. That was bound to cause damage.

[DeathByArrows]

Originally Posted by Hoover

Nice of them to release this on a Monday before we are on MNF. Well done PR and attorney, well done.

They've probably been sitting not this report for months.

[Hog's Gone Fishin]

What a bunch of Idiots ! Of course his brain showed signs of damage. It was blown out of his head with a handgun.

['Hamas' Jenkins]

Originally Posted by BWillie

So, my question is...what about average joes..that work in other intense fields? Has anybody ever analyzed their brains postmortem to see if they have any signs of CTE?

Probably a pretty good chance you would if you worked a jackhammer for years. The difference is that your foreman didn't have evidence that proved such work was dangerous while sitting on it and hiring a panel of doctors to mount a PR campaign for nearly two decades saying that it wasn't.

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by philfree

I guess only concussions that happen in the NFL cause CTE.

There is evidence that Lou Gehrig s disease was caused by concussions. The proteins from the concussion got into his spinal fluid.

I never played football past high school, took a couple of fastballs to the head in youth baseball. I had an MRI done on my head a couple of years agao. You could see some old injuries on there. Nothing serious but I could see someone playing Div. 1 football and a couple of years in the NFL could have a lot more serious problems.

[RealSNR]

Belcher's brain needed to be fixed.

It had a hole in it.

[SPATCH]

Originally Posted by Marcellus

Except the fans that drive the league and make all the $ possible, they don't care about this stuff. They don't.

And players aren't going to want to not make millions of $$ so I doubt they are going to stop playing football. I don't see it.

Boxing used to be the top sport in America (along with baseball).

But, once the long-term effects of boxing on its participants became widely publicized, boxing drifted out of the mainstream.

[WhiteWhale]

Originally Posted by BWillie

So, my question is...what about average joes..that work in other intense fields? Has anybody ever analyzed their brains postmortem to see if they have any signs of CTE?

Yeah man. They've analyzed the brains of a LOT of people. There is a huge difference in the brain tissue of CTE suffers and those without.

[WhiteWhale]

Originally Posted by SPATCH

Boxing used to be the top sport in America (along with baseball).

But, once the long-term effects of boxing on its participants became widely publicized, boxing drifted out of the mainstream.

Ehhh... correlation doesn't equal causation and the correlation isn't even that strong. The consequences of boxing were not discovered at the same time as it's decline began.

I'd argue PPV's killed boxing.