EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE UNTIL 4 PM ET, February 03, 2016
Alzheimer鈥檚 Plaques Found in Middle-Aged People with Brain Injuries
MINNEAPOLIS -
A new study suggests that people with brain injuries following head trauma may have buildup of the plaques related to Alzheimer鈥檚 disease in their brains. The research is published in the February 3, 2016, online issue of , the medical journal of the . A corresponding editorial states that over the past decade the rate of emergency department visits related to traumatic brain injury (TBI) has increased by 70 percent. The editorial also says an estimated three to five million Americans live with a TBI-related disability. 鈥淭he study is small and the findings preliminary, however, we did find an increased buildup of amyloid plaques in people who had previously sustained a traumatic brain injury,鈥 said study author Professor David Sharp, MD, of Imperial College London, in the United Kingdom. 鈥淭he areas of the brain affected by plaques overlapped those areas affected in Alzheimer鈥檚 disease, but other areas were involved. People after a head injury are more likely to develop dementia, but it isn鈥檛 clear why. Our findings suggest TBI leads to the development of the plaques which are a well-known feature of Alzheimer鈥檚 disease.鈥 For the study, nine people with an average age of 44 who had a single moderate to severe TBI had PET and MRI brain scans. The brain injuries occurred between 11 months and up to 17 years before the start of the study. The participants were compared to 10 people with Alzheimer鈥檚 disease and nine healthy participants. The PET scans used a marker that detects plaques in the brain. The MRI scans used diffusion tensor imaging to detect damage to brain cells that occurs after TBI. Both the people with brain injuries and the people with Alzheimer鈥檚 disease had plaques in the posterior cingulate cortex, which is affected early in Alzheimer鈥檚, but only those with brain injuries had plaques in the cerebellum. The researchers also found that plaques were increased in patients with more damage to the brain鈥檚 white matter. 鈥淚t suggests that plaques are triggered by a different mechanism after a traumatic brain injury,鈥 Sharp said. 鈥淭he damage to the brain鈥檚 white matter at the time of the injury may act as a trigger for plaque production.鈥 鈥淚f a link between brain injury and later Alzheimer鈥檚 disease is confirmed in larger studies, neurologists may be able to find prevention and treatment strategies to stave off the disease earlier,鈥 said Sharp. The study was supported by the Imperial College Healthcare Trust Biomedical Research Center. To learn more about Alzheimer鈥檚 disease, please visit .