※ 引述《andy880036s (中信魚京云鬼!!)》之銘言：
: Ryan Freel’s family is donating his brain to science for study of head trauma
: Freel的家人決定捐出他的腦 以供作頭部創傷相關疾病方面的研究
Ryan Freel的腦經過研究之後，確診在他自殺時，已罹患CTE
【注:CTE, chronic traumatic encephalopathy, 慢性創傷型腦病變是一種因創傷
累積造成的腦部退化性病變。多鑑於遭受多次腦震盪或頭部傷害的患者，尤以運動
員為甚。過去常見於拳擊手，故有Dementia pugilistica(DP, 重擊性失憶)之稱。
通常僅能在過世後的驗屍報告中診斷。症狀通常伴隨失憶、思想混沌、憂鬱等】
http://tinyurl.com/ltt5xyv
Family: Ryan Freel was suffering from brain disease CTE
Former baseball star and Jacksonville native Ryan Freel was suffering from a
degenerative brain disease known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy when he
committed suicide last year, his family announced Sunday at a private mass
remembering the Englewood graduate.
The report from the Boston University Center for the Study of Traumatic
Encephalopathy and Sports Legacy Institute was presented to Freel's mother
and stepfather, Norma and Clark Vargas, and to representatives from Major
League Baseball on Dec. 11 at the winter meetings in Lake Buena Vista.
There, evidence confirmed that Freel was suffering from Stage II CTE when he
committed suicide on Dec. 22, 2012. He was 36 years old.
The family learned of the findings on the same day that MLB announced that it
approved a ban on home-plate collisions. Freel is the first baseball player
to have his brain studied by the Boston group, and first to be diagnosed with
the incurable disease that has been found predominantly in the brains of
athletes who participate in contact sports such as boxing, hockey and
football.
Freel, who retired in 2010 following an eight-year career in the majors, was
reported to have suffered “nine or 10” concussions in his career. Clark
Vargas said that the findings on Freel will be published in a medical journal
early next year. For Freel's family, the confirmation that he was battling
something beyond his control provided some closure.
"Oh yes [it's helpful], especially for the girls," Norma Vargas said of
Freel's three children. "We adults can understand a little better. It's a
closure for the girls who loved their dad so much and they knew how much
their dad loved them. It could help them understand why he did what he did.
Maybe not now, but one day they will."
Added his stepfather, Clark Vargas: "It's a release in that there was a
physical reason for what he did. On the other side for me, Ryan fell through
the cracks. He was seen by the heads of Duke, then a whole bunch of other
people ... since he came back, Mayo. All those guys couldn't put it together."
Chris Nowinski, Co-Founder and Executive Director at Sports Legacy Institute,
said on Sunday that the results allow groups such as his to expand awareness
about repeated head trauma.
“I think this will educate a new group of people who may never have heard of
the football findings, the hockey findings,” Nowinski said. “CTE can be
caused by any brain trauma.”
Clark Vargas said that Nowinski has made it a point of emphasizing how much
attention should be devoted to keeping up with head trauma, even in a sport
that isn't as well-known for it. Several concussions that Freel suffered in
baseball came on plays such as collisions in the outfield with teammates and
the wall, and on pickoff attempts.
"One of the things Nowinski brought up, we're keeping track of pitch counts,
can we keep track of how many guys are hit on the head?" Clark Vargas said.
Researchers have cautioned that CTE in and of itself can’t be totally blamed
when athletes take their own lives. Research is still in its early stages and
underlying issues such as mental illnesses, substance abuse issues, genetics,
among other factors must also be taken into account.
Freel's career included a spate of well-documented head injuries, and later
on, erratic behavior that was symptomatic of CTE. He played football while he
was younger, too.
Freel struggled with depression and anxiety and had been diagnosed with adult
attention deficit disorder. Numerous friends and family said that they saw a
pronounced mental decline in Freel over the final years of his life.
Dr. Ann C. McKee, Co-Director of the Center for the Study of Traumatic
Encephalopathy, wrote in "Brain," a scientific-journal, that "CTE is
clinically associated with symptoms of irritability, impulsivity, aggression,
depression, short-term memory loss and heightened suicidality that usually
begin eight to 10 years after experiencing repetitive mild traumatic brain
injury."
In Stage II of the disease, symptoms include headache and loss of attention
and concentration, depression, explosivity and short-term memory loss,
according to McKee. Freel had struggled with many of those.
More and more attention has been placed on CTE as research has improved and
suicides by former athletes have grown. Football players Dave Duerson, Junior
Seau and Mike Webster, and hockey player Derek Boogaard are several
high-profile former athletes to be diagnosed with the disease. Another former
NFL star, running back Tony Dorsett, recently revealed that he was diagnosed
with CTE. Dorsett was one of the first to be diagnosed while still alive.
作為第一個MLB的確診案例(過去多為NFL與NHL球員)
這項消息可能影響球員工會對於是否廢止本壘衝撞的決議