What's The Main Cause Of Sports-Related Brain Damage?

Fresh Progress In Cancer Testing

Elsa/Getty Images Repeated Head Hits, Not Just Concussions, May Lead To Chronic Brain Damage When it comes to contact sports, there’s been an awakening to the risk of head injuries. Quite a few NFL players in recent years have been found to have developed a degenerative brain disease called chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE. Those cases helped focus attention on how concussions might be connected. Now, as NPR's Tom Goldman reports, the evidence suggests the most important culprit may be the cumulative effect of repetitive hits to the head that aren’t concussions.   "We've had an inkling that subconcussive hits — the ones that don't [show] neurological signs and symptoms — may be associated with CTE," says Dr. Lee Goldstein, of the Boston University School of Medicine. "We now have solid scientific evidence to say that is so.”   National Cancer Institute If You Need A Mammogram, Should You Get One In '3-D'? A growing number of women face a choice about what kind of mammogram to have: Should the cancer screening include three-dimensional mammography, or stick to the conventional two-dimensional approach that has long been the standard? The 3-D test costs a little more, about $50. Studies have generally shown that it’s slightly better at detecting cancers than the 2-D test, and women typically have to return less often to have additional images taken. But as Kaiser Health News’ Michelle Andrews reports, the jury is still out on whether the newer technology is any better at identifying the advanced cancers that will become lethal.   Andrew Lichtenstein/Getty Images Scientists Edge Closer To A Blood Test To Detect Cancers What if you could have a blood test instead of an invasive procedure or imaging test to find out if you have cancer? Scientists at Johns Hopkins are making progress on a test called CancerSEEK that looks for eight common cancers in a sample of a person’s blood, NPR's Richard Harris reports. Among more than a thousand people known to have cancer, the test found signs of it in 70 percent of cases. When tried on more than 800 people without a cancer diagnosis, there was a false alarm rate below 1 percent. Or course, it’s still very early in the research process. So even if the blood test eventually is proven to be worthwhile, it would be years before you and your doctor could ditch conventional cancer screening. Your Shots editor, Scott Hensley You received this message because you're subscribed to our Health emails. |  Unsubscribe  |  Privacy Policy | NPR 1111 N. CAPITOL ST. NE WASHINGTON DC 20002