Dr. Nitkin Sethi, a revered ringside doctor and neurologist in New York, wrote an attention-grabbing letter to the Journal Neurology discussing MRI findings which might be typically minimized by radiologists however may very well be regarding for fight sports activities athletes.
When your doctor orders an MRI they typically don’t see the uncooked information generated. As an alternative that is reviewed by a radiologist who authors a report summarizing what’s noticed.
Dr. Sethi famous that MRI experiences he evaluations for fighters typically present FLAIR white matter hyperintensities. Treating radiologists typically report these as “non particular findings” seen in pretty routine situations resembling migrains.
When an athletic fee evaluations a fighter’s MRI report for licensing functions they’ll haven’t any considerations if the treating radiologist expressed nothing of observe.
Dr. Sethi notes, nevertheless, that in his years of expertise these findings, whereas per different situations, may be “a biomarker of concussive mind accidents“. Appreciating this Dr. Sethi notes that when these findings are made in fight sports activities athletes treating and overseeing physicians ought to pay attention to this and “ought to be a precedence when counseling and prognosticating about mind well being, CTE, and choices about retirement“.
Dr. Sethi’s letter reads as follows:
I shared this commentary on Twitter the place a number of different docs and ringside physicians weighed in with the under worthwhile feedback:
The Trillion greenback query is when is an athlete concerning the cross the brink of no return on the subject of an excessive amount of profession mind trauma and CTE? The reply will not be recognized.
Till the reply is understood the smoking analogy is apt. Cigarettes are linked to most cancers. What number of you may smoke earlier than getting the illness is an unknown quantity. One which varies for everybody. All that may be mentioned for sure is much less is extra. The identical will be mentioned for hits to the pinnacle and CTE.
