This week, Dr. Lili-Naz Hazrati, a neuropathologist in the Laboratory Medicine Program made headlines when her results from completing three brain autopsies for the Krembil Neuroscience Centre’s Canadian Sports Concussion Project (CSCP) were released.
The autopsies show the varying outcomes that can result in brains of former athletes who sustained multiple concussions, and included the analyses of former NHL player, Steve Montador, and two former CFL players, John Forzani and an anonymous donor.
The brains of both Montador and the anonymous donor showed the presence of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) – a neurodegenerative brain disorder, while Forzani’s brain showed no evidence of trauma. Despite all three athletes suffering from multiple concussions throughout their respective careers, Dr. Hazrati now says, “certain individuals may be more vulnerable than others to developing CTE as a result of concussions.”
The results support the need for more concussion research to determine the prevalence of CTE in the brains of former athletes.
“Collectively, these findings are an important step to further our understanding of what happens to the brain as a result of multiple concussions,” said Dr. Hazrati. “But we certainly need to continue studying this brain injury to determine who is likely to develop CTE, why and how we can help those who suffer from it in a meaningful way.”
These recent findings bring the total of brains analyzed by the Krembil Neuroscience Centre’s CSCP to 16, with roughly half showing signs of CTE or the presence of another neurodegenerative disease.
This story also comes out just months after the Toronto Star’s article, 10 Torontonians to Watch in 2015, which featured Dr. Lili-Naz Hazrati as, “A sleuth in the world of neurological disease.”
You can read more coverage on the findings of Dr. Hazrati’s research and the outcomes resulting from TSN, CBC and the Toronto Star – click on each image to read the story.
The Pathology Report 
Leave a Reply