NYT: Lou Gehrig's Death Could Be Blamed on Concussions, Other Brain Injuries

[EmpireWF]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/18/sports/18gehrig.html?_r=3&pagewanted=1&hp

In the 71 years since the Yankees slugger Lou Gehrig declared himself “the luckiest man on the face of the earth,” despite dying from a disease that would soon bear his name, he has stood as America’s leading icon of athletic valor struck down by random, inexplicable fate.

peer-reviewed paper to be published Wednesday in a leading journal of neuropathology, however, suggests that the demise of athletes like Gehrig and soldiers given a diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, might have been catalyzed by injuries only now becoming understood: concussions and other brain trauma.

Although the paper does not discuss Gehrig specifically, its authors in interviews acknowledged the clear implication: Lou Gehrig might not have had Lou Gehrig’s disease.

Doctors at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Bedford, Mass., and the Boston University School of Medicine, the primary researchers of brain damage among deceased National Football League players, said that markings in the spinal cords of two players and one boxer who also received a diagnosis of A.L.S. indicated that those men did not have A.L.S. at all. They had a different fatal disease, doctors said, caused by concussionlike trauma, that erodes the central nervous system in similar ways.

The finding could prompt a redirection in the study of motor degeneration in athletes and military veterans being given diagnoses of A.L.S. at rates considerably higher than normal, said several experts in A.L.S. who had seen early versions of the paper. Patients with significant histories of brain trauma could be considered for different types of treatment in the future, perhaps leading toward new pathways for a cure.

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[Blade]

Well damn.........but how many times did he get beaned in the head that he had concussions enough to die from?

 

[Leftwich]

So does this mean if you have enough concussions you'll get ALS?

 

[EmpireWF]

So does this mean if you have enough concussions you'll get ALS?

No, it's just a preliminary study...the article says the study is leading doctors to believe the deaths attributed to A.L.S. may not have been A.L.S. at all, but rather deaths attributed to head traumas.

The report didn't even talk about Gehrig's specific case. What it said was two deceased NFL players had the "markings in the spinal cords...and one boxer who received a diagnosis of A.L.S. indicated that those men did not have A.L.S. at all. They had a different fatal disease, doctors said, caused by concussionlike trauma, that erodes the central nervous system in similar ways."

More from the article:

The finding’s relevance to Gehrig is less clear. But the Yankees legend had a well-documented history of significant concussions on the baseball field, and perhaps others sustained as a battering-ram football halfback in high school and at Columbia University. Given that, it’s possible that Gehrig’s renowned commitment to playing through injuries like concussions, which resulted in his legendary streak of playing in 2,130 consecutive games over 14 years, could have led to his condition.

“Here he is, the face of his disease, and he may have had a different disease as a result of his athletic experience,” said Dr. Ann McKee, the director of the neuropathology laboratory for the New England Veterans Administration Medical Centers and the lead neuropathologist on the study.

Gehrig’s name does not appear in the paper; his case was discussed in interviews merely as an illustration of the new uncertainty surrounding cases resembling his, said Dr. Robert Stern, who serves with Dr. McKee as co-director of Boston University’s Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy. The cause of his disease will most likely never be determined because his remains were cremated, and now lie in Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, N.Y.

More significantly, both doctors said, the finding solidifies a long-suspected connection between A.L.S.-like motor disease and head trauma experienced in collision sports and combat.

“People are being misdiagnosed clinically while they’re alive as having A.L.S. when in fact they have a different motor-neuron disease,” Dr. Stern said. He added, “Scientists will be able to get at a faster understanding of the disease in general, and therefore effective treatments, by knowing more about who’s at risk and who’s not.”

 

[Senser81]

I would highly doubt this conclusion. If you got hit in the head with a baseball enough times to cause Lou Gehrig's disease, I think you would have died from head trauma immediately. I don't think getting hit in the head with a baseball would occur often enough to have a "cumulative effect".

And the reference to Gehrig playing football at Columbia is interesting, but a lot of people played football a lot longer than Gehrig, yet the disease Gehrig contracted was and is still VERY rare. I would expect more football players from that era (and even any era) to have gotten the same disease.

 

[Blade]

I would highly doubt this conclusion. If you got hit in the head with a baseball enough times to cause Lou Gehrig's disease, I think you would have died from head trauma immediately. I don't think getting hit in the head with a baseball would occur often enough to have a "cumulative effect".

And the reference to Gehrig playing football at Columbia is interesting, but a lot of people played football a lot longer than Gehrig, yet the disease Gehrig contracted was and is still VERY rare. I would expect more football players from that era (and even any era) to have gotten the same disease.

Thats what I was wondering, I mean if he had enough concussions going into baseball from playing college football, how the hell was he standing up? Also, getting beaned by a baseball that many times would have certainly killed someone, like Senser mentioned. Also, how do we know if Gehrig was hit in the head that many times to warrant this hypothesis.

 

[EmpireWF]

I would highly doubt this conclusion. If you got hit in the head with a baseball enough times to cause Lou Gehrig's disease, I think you would have died from head trauma immediately. I don't think getting hit in the head with a baseball would occur often enough to have a "cumulative effect".

The article brought up 4 examples that were reported in newspapers of the period....two beanings, one collision with a runner and one time he swung at Ty Cobb in a brawl, fell and hit his head on the ground. All times, Gehrig took no time off to heal any potential damage to his brain.

It's theory is if they found only 4 examples that were reported, they imagine there were plenty of others that were not reported and figured to be normal for the period.

We'll never know exactly about Gehrig's specific case though.

 

[Senser81]

The article brought up 4 examples that were reported in newspapers of the period....two beanings, one collision with a runner and one time he swung at Ty Cobb in a brawl, fell and hit his head on the ground. All times, Gehrig took no time off to heal any potential damage to his brain.

It's theory is if they found only 4 examples that were reported, they imagine there were plenty of others that were not reported and figured to be normal for the period.

We'll never know exactly about Gehrig's specific case though.

I don't disagree, but if there are plenty of other unreported head trauma incidents in baseball, and its figured to be normal for that period, then how come Gehrig's disease was so rare? Why didn't more long-time baseball players suffer from the same disease?

 

[EmpireWF]

I don't disagree, but if there are plenty of other unreported head trauma incidents in baseball, and its figured to be normal for that period, then how come Gehrig's disease was so rare? Why didn't more long-time baseball players suffer from the same disease?

A good question.