ADMdx is developing tools to detect the effects of repetitive head impact and differentiate them from other dementias such as Alzheimer’s Disease.

Persons who experience repeated impact to the head, such as in contact sports, military combat, or multiple falls, can be at risk for the development of long term effects. In some cases this can result in Chronic Traumatic Neuropathy (CTE), a devastating neurodegenerative disease. Yet today there is no diagnostic test to determine how impact is affecting the brain. ADMdx is developing diagnostic tools using brain imaging to detect these effects and identify whether someone is likely to have CTE.

In collaboration with the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, ADMdx has demonstrated the ability to differentiate the effects of repetitive head impact from those due to Alzheimer’s disease. We are continuing this work through a $2 million grant funded by the National Institutes of Health, with collaborators from the Cleveland Clinic, Boston University, and Indiana University.

We are applying our image analysis advances to more than 10,000 different types of images from a broad spectrum of head impact. These include scans of boxers, mixed martial artists, and martial artists from the Professional Athlete Brain Health Study (Dr. Charles Bernick, PI), retired professional and college football players from the DIAGNOSE-CTE study (Dr. Robert Stern, Dr. Jeffrey Cummings, Dr. Eric Reiman, Dr. Martha Shenton PIs), college contact sports atheletes from the CARE Consortium (Dr. Yu-Chien Wu, imaging core), combat veterans from the ADNI Department of Defense study, and our database of numerous types of dementias and other brain conditions. This unprecedented combination of conditions has already supported our new insights into the effects and progression of head impact effects over time.