Years of Battering Took Toll on 1980s Patriots Star Mosi Tatupu

Boston Globe

Ann McKee, MD, neurology; Jesse Mez, MD, neurology

The Tatupus’ family home in Attleboro was always bustling with kids and a menagerie of pets. Yet amid the whirl and laughter, an unsettling darkness crept in.
 
 

Expert quote:

Ann McKee, MD:

There is no blood test or brain screening that can detect CTE as it develops, the way that physicians now test for high cholesterol or blood pressure. McKee said researchers are hoping to develop a test to identify CTE in its early stages in people who appear to be showing the first symptoms, and to create therapies to treat it.

“If we can distinguish that this is CTE, it would give us an opportunity to halt the disease in its tracks or reverse it,” Mc-Kee said.

Jesse Mez, MD:

Researchers said they believe the risk of developing CTE from repeated head injuries may be higher in some families than others. Mez, the CTE Center researcher who also specializes in genetics, said he is hoping to develop a test that could reveal which children might be more vulnerable to the disease.

“It’s hard for me to imagine that there isn’t a predisposition,” Mez said.

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