Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) was first diagnosed in an NFL player in 2002, and it has since been confirmed by postmortem examination in dozens of American athletes. The physician who made the initial discovery, forensic neuropathologist Bennet I. Omalu, MD, MBA, MPH, overcame massive efforts to discredit him and his research, and today CTE is widely recognized as a health risk in millions of patients with histories of repetitive brain trauma, including military veterans. The AMA on Saturday honored Dr. Omalu with its Distinguished Service Award during the opening session of the 2016 AMA Interim Meeting, in Orlando, Fla.
Dr. Omalu was working as a forensic neuropathologist in Pittsburgh when he conducted postmortem examinations of former NFL offensive lineman Mike Webster’s brain and spotted what would become the hallmarks of CTE.
“[W]hen I looked at his brain and he had diffuse amyloid plaques everywhere and there were no neuritic plaques … I took the slides home with me,” Dr. Omalu said in a 2015 interview. “I spent six months with those slides. I saw tau randomly situated, and not reminiscent of any other dementia that I knew. My first reaction, when I went to the literature, was that I expected to find previous reports like this, but I didn’t find even one.”
He had the case published in 2005 and went on to identify CTE in postmortem examinations of numerous other former NFL players.
Dr. Omalu initially thought the league would be pleased more details http://www.possitt.com/2016/11/good-news-igbo-physician-omalu-receives.html#more