Benoit test results in.

[Bob Hubbard]

Source ABCNews.com

ABC News is confirming that tests conducted by Julian Bailes of the Sports Legacy Institute show that Chris Benoit’s brain was severely damaged at the time he murdered his wife and son before taking his own life. According to the tests his brain resembled that of an 85-year-old Alzheimer's patient. Bailes said that the damage was the result of lifetime chronic concussions and head trauma.

Chris Benoit was famous for his flying headbutt, which is a lot of stress on the brain each time the maneuver is pulled off. While nothing can justify his actions, this at least helps the coping process.

=== Full story: http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=3560015&page=1

 

[Makalakumu]

Considering all of the damage and drugs that these individuals are doing to their bodies, does anyone have any ethical problems with watching this as a form of entertainment?

 

[terryl965]

Yea I'm wondering myself how good this is for my childern to watch anymore. It use to be just pure entertainment but now with all the fuss about steriods and such it is not a good thing anymore.

 

[tshadowchaser]

The report dose put a DIFFERENT LIGHT ON THE SUBJECT
iWONDER IF ALL THOSE NEWS PROGRAMS THAT JUMPED ON THE STAROID ISSUE WILL NOW SAY SOMETHING POSITIVE OR AT LEAST START LOOKING INTO BRAIN INJURY PROBLEMS IN SPORTS

 

[Bob Hubbard]

I've got no problem watching it.

Considering the antics of football, baseball, hockey and basketball players, as well as numerous musicians and actors, and no one's calling for bans or congressional investigations into them, I find the use of pro wrestling as a media-hyped political opportunity to be pretty disgusting.

New studies are also indicating that those enlarged hearts people keep blaming on roids, are a normal result of high-intensity training, which professional athletes tend to go through. Unlike us, 30 minutes 3x a week on a treadmill isn't enough for them.

 

[Bob Hubbard]

SPORTS LEGACY INSTITUTE ANNOUNCES FINDINGS OF FORENSIC EXAMINATIONS OF WRESTLER CHRIS BENOIT'S BRAIN
By: Press Release
9/5/2007 8:43:11 PM

NEW YORK, Sept. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- Leading medical experts associated with the Sports Legacy Institute today appeared with Michael Benoit, father of professional wrestler Chris Benoit, to release the results of neuropathological tests that demonstrate his son suffered from a type of brain damage called Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE), which was found in all regions of his brain. The Sports Legacy Institute (SLI), which oversaw and coordinated the testing, is an independent medical research organization dedicated to studying the long-term effects of head injuries in sports. SLI President Christopher Nowinski contacted Michael Benoit on June 28th, the Thursday after his son's death, to obtain permission to study the wrestler's brain. SLI's research has indicated there is a connection between the repeated head injuries suffered by many athletes involved in contact sports and an aggregation of abnormal Tau proteins in the brain, causing CTE. CTE's most common symptoms include depression, cognitive impairment, dementia, Parkinsonism and erratic behavior. Experts believe that CTE may have been a cause or contributing factor in the Benoit tragedy. While CTE has long been found in boxers, and more recently in NFL football players, the findings of CTE in Benoit suggest that athletes involved in other contact sports may also be at a heightened risk for this type of brain injury.

"When Chris Nowinski contacted me about conducting tests on Chris' brain, I was extremely hesitant given the circumstances surrounding my son's death," said Michael Benoit. "I agreed to the testing after he explained their desire to expand knowledge about the potential brain damage that athletes can suffer from repetitive head injuries in contact sports. When the results were explained to me by the SLI doctors, I was shocked to learn the extent of damage and saddened that he could have been suffering from this without anyone's knowledge. I hope the examination of Chris' brain leads to greater understanding and ultimately helps protect athletes of all ages."

Bennet Omalu, MD, MPH, a leading forensic neuropathologist, the Chief Medical Examiner of San Joaquin County, CA, and founding member of the Sports Legacy Institute examined Chris Benoit's brain as part of the Sports Legacy Project and had also examined the brains of Mike Webster, Terry Long, Andre Waters, and Justin Strzelczyk all of whom were professional football players, died by the age of fifty, and displayed similar psychological and behavioral profiles. Their brains showed evidence of CTE and two of the players -- Long, and Waters -- committed suicide.

Mike Webster died of a heart attack, but suffered from dementia, depression, and exhibited erratic behavior after retiring from football. When Justin Strzelczyk died at the age of 36, he had been telling relatives he was hearing voices from "the evil ones" and then led police on a 40 mile high- speed chase through central New York at speeds up to 100 mph on the wrong side of the highway, which resulted in an explosive crash and his death

"When the SLI approached Michael Benoit about testing Chris' brain as part of the Sports Legacy Project, our goal was to determine if there was evidence of CTE caused by repeated trauma to the head sustained during Chris Benoit's career. We have now confirmed multiple concussions are part of his medical history, along with clinical symptoms associated with CTE," said Julian Bailes, MD, Professor and Chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery at West Virginia University School of Medicine and an SLI founding member. "Because my SLI colleagues and I have found evidence of CTE in the brains of four former professional football players, we felt an examination of Chris Benoit's brain may bring awareness to CTE's existence outside of boxers and football players. The findings of CTE in Chris Benoit suggest that there may be a common syndrome among athletes who suffer multiple head injuries in contact sports."

The neuropathological findings were confirmed by other neuropathologists, and correlate with recent findings of an increased risk of depression and cognitive impairment in professional football players who have suffered multiple concussions, according to research conducted by Dr. Bailes and another SLI founding member, Robert Cantu, MD, Chief of Neurosurgery Service and Director of Sports Medicine at Emerson Hospital in Concord, MA, and Co- Director of the Neurologic Sports Injury Center at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, MA.

Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) is a form of brain damage that is best documented in boxers, but can also occur in athletes who played football, ice hockey, rugby, soccer, or any sport associated with impacts to the head. It can only be confirmed by a post-mortem neuropathological immunohistochemical study. While studies show that as many as 20 percent of professional boxers show evidence of CTE, there has been little study of CTE in athletes involved in other contact sports.

According to the examinations, Mr. Benoit's brain exhibited large amounts of abnormal Tau protein, manifested as Neurofibrillary Tangles (NFTs) and Neuropil Threads [NTs]. These represent aggregates of abnormal Tau protein, which are remnants of the cytoskeleton of the brain cells and their connections. Frequent NFTs and NTs were distributed in all regions of the brain including the neocortex, the limbic cortex, subcortical ganglia and brainstem ganglia accompanied by loss of brain cells. Accumulation of abnormal Tau protein in the form of NFTs and NTs in the brain has been confirmed to cause neurodegeneration, cognitive impairment and dementia. There was no other neuropathological evidence for any chronic or acute disorder to explain his clinical symptoms.

"The findings of CTE in Chris Benoit's brain, which are consistent with the previous examinations of athletes who suffered from repeated head traumas, confirm the need for a large-scale study of CTE in athletes who participate in contact sports," said Chris Nowinski, who retired from professional sports after multiple concussions and conceived SLI, a collaboration of doctors and advocates that includes renowned attorney Robert Fitzsimmons, who played an integral role. "The link between CTE and contact sports is clear. We need to conduct more research to understand the full spectrum of the disease and raise awareness so parents, coaches, medical staff and athletic officials know how to respond when athletes, including children, sustain head injuries. If we apply this knowledge we believe we can successfully prevent future cases."

The Sports Legacy Institute is dedicated to studying the effects of concussions and other sports related brain injuries. Through its efforts, SLI aims to maximize the safety and vitality of all athletes who participate in contact and collision sports around the globe. The designation of the Sports Legacy Institute as a 501(c)3 nonprofit corporation is in the process of being submitted. The Sports Legacy Institute relies on donations from concerned parties to fund its work.

 

[tshadowchaser]

The photos that where shown on TV of the slide of Benoit's brain where scary as hell. Those dark spots where all over the place. It is no wonder he may have had dementia or worse

 

[shesulsa]

And I have to say I thought of this report last night when watching my 8-year-old's tackle football practice.

 

[Kembudo-Kai Kempoka]

I've had raging ADHD since I was a wee rat in the 70's, to holding a train of thought has always been a bit hard for me. It got substantially worse after training in kickboxing; we sued to go pretty hard, several times a week, full head shots with gear. Several TKO's, followed by a couple weeks off while the dizziness and nausea passed (read: while the concussion we refused to acknowledge healed).

I got in a nasty car wreck about a year ago, whacked my head off 3 different surfaces in the car, and ended up with 3 different concussions. My short-term memory has been for crap since then; like I knocked something loose, and can't get it knocked back into place. Long term, too. I had a friend come out to brush me up on a form I forgot, not even a month ago. Started getting pretty good at it, then last night just couldn't find it...like I never learned it. Found bits of it this morning...memory traces that simply weren't there last night, but which are now blending into different forms...like getting halfway through Form 4, then finishing Short 3, and not knowing where I made the switch.

Take care of your brains, people. They run the entire machine for us, and are shock sensitive organs. Hopefully this sort of news will cause more caution around impact sports and entertainment activities.

D.

 

[Makalakumu]

I've had raging ADHD since I was a wee rat in the 70's, to holding a train of thought has always been a bit hard for me. It got substantially worse after training in kickboxing; we sued to go pretty hard, several times a week, full head shots with gear. Several TKO's, followed by a couple weeks off while the dizziness and nausea passed (read: while the concussion we refused to acknowledge healed).

I got in a nasty car wreck about a year ago, whacked my head off 3 different surfaces in the car, and ended up with 3 different concussions. My short-term memory has been for crap since then; like I knocked something loose, and can't get it knocked back into place. Long term, too. I had a friend come out to brush me up on a form I forgot, not even a month ago. Started getting pretty good at it, then last night just couldn't find it...like I never learned it. Found bits of it this morning...memory traces that simply weren't there last night, but which are now blending into different forms...like getting halfway through Form 4, then finishing Short 3, and not knowing where I made the switch.

Take care of your brains, people. They run the entire machine for us, and are shock sensitive organs. Hopefully this sort of news will cause more caution around impact sports and entertainment activities.

D.

Well, it certainly calls into question the dangers of contact training and the need for protective equipment IMHO.

 

[exile]

Now think about all those guys who follow the karate-based MA tournament scene doing head breaks on multi-slab stacks of ice or concrete... talk about self-destructive lunacy! And remember, they don't just pop up at a few shows a year to do that; they practice doing that stuff... :erg:

 

[Sukerkin]

I can attest through personal experience, like Kempoka above, just how damaging head trauma can be.

Through my infamous bike smash I have the following symptomatic results:

- I've lost several years of my life in an isolated 'black hole' in my head (torn and destroyed synaptic linkages have effectively 'erased' those memories)

- my hard won self controlled calm is shot to pieces (outbursts of temper and inability to keep my mouth shut when I should being the most embarassing)

- I now suffer from manic depression

- my memory for numbers is non-existent (before I had an almost eidetic recall for things like phone numbers)

- Periodically, I forget common words or the names of people I've known for decades

- My IQ has dropped considerably (between 30 and 50 points depending on the tests) - the worst part of this is I can tell (reading my old academic notes is a shocker !)

There are other effects but those are the 'highlights'.

Where I'm going with this, my apologies to Bob for disagreeing with him, is that effectively volunteering for brain damage in the name of entertainment is something that should be treated with more seriousness than it is.

That is particularly so in the case of people like boxers and wrestlers who, demonstrably, have the capacity to inflict considerable damage on others if their own 'invisible' damage reaches a critical point.

It's one of those cases where the 'free will' of an individual to choos the path they take should be tempered by the potential for harm to others as well as themselves.

 

[exile]

I can attest through personal experience, like Kempoka above, just how damaging head trauma can be.

Through my infamous bike smash I have the following symptomatic results:

- I've lost several years of my life in an isolated 'black hole' in my head (torn and destroyed synaptic linkages have effectively 'erased' those memories)

- my hard won self controlled calm is shot to pieces (outbursts of temper and inability to keep my mouth shut when I should being the most embarassing)

- I now suffer from manic depression

- my memory for numbers is non-existent (before I had an almost eidetic recall for things like phone numbers)

- Periodically, I forget common words or the names of people I've known for decades

- My IQ has dropped considerably (between 30 and 50 points depending on the tests) - the worst part of this is I can tell (reading my old academic notes is a shocker !)

There are other effects but those are the 'highlights'.

Where I'm going with this, my apologies to Bob for disagreeing with him, is that effectively volunteering for brain damage in the name of entertainment is something that should be treated with more seriousness than it is.

That is particularly so in the case of people like boxers and wrestlers who, demonstrably, have the capacity to inflict considerable damage on others if their own 'invisible' damage reaches a critical point.

It's one of those cases where the 'free will' of an individual to choos the path they take should be tempered by the potential for harm to others as well as themselves.

Whew... I don't know what to say....

I'm probably going into excessively deep waters here, Mark, well over my head, but... I've never had any kind of traumatic head injury, and still, when I look back over some of my undergraduate papers, I think, why can't I do something like that anymore? I've seen no evidence of anything but top-flight thinking on your MT posts; if that's 30–50 IQ points lower than what you were doing before your injury, you must have been in line for the Call to Stockholm when the accident happened. Your MT posts are thoughtful, informed, rational...

I agree with your points about `entertainment' that entails massive shock to the braincages of young adults. And I know that severe head injuries can result in wide and deep memory loss in people... but I also know that there are plenty of neuropsychologists who believe that even something as traumatic as a major stroke does not reduce intelligence per se, that it affects affective control, attention and memory (which may well be all related), but not the basic problem-solving capability and control of rational thought which is the basis of what we call intelligence. You may be selling yourself way too short in this respect...

 

[grydth]

Considering all of the damage and drugs that these individuals are doing to their bodies, does anyone have any ethical problems with watching this as a form of entertainment?

This is a good and fair point.... But here, as in most things, there are 2 sides.

There are many sports where horrific, if not fatal damage, is done with some frequency....... football, hockey, boxing. How about the flaming wrecks in car races - or air shows? It isn't just the pros or even just adults - Kids have died from hit balls in baseball, been rendered quadraplegics in high school football games, dropped dead on the track from heart or breathing conditions.

How about watching somebody sacrifice their entire childhood for 'the Olympic Dream'.... only to wind up crushed and broken also rans.... as 99.99% do? Should we watch any more of that?

Then, there's our own front yard...martial arts. Anyone not know of one or more ugly injuries?

So - if it is amoral to watch pro wrestling.... is it also to watch the Indy 500? The old Geneseo Air Show? My kids' karate tournaments?

You have the decency to frame the issue as the individual choice of an audience member. But too often in the alleged Land of the Free, that question is asked as," Should the government ban...."

Let's suppose we do somehow bring an end to violent sports. Where do these guys then go? To some run of the mill job - where they suffer all too frequent injury at unsafe work places - and do so for $8 an hour and workers comp? Because, you know, it often isn't safer in 'ordinary life' - you just get maimed and die for a lot less.

 

[Sukerkin]

I have to say that I agree with much of what Exile appended to my post above.

Some of the decline in faculties has been exacerbated and highlighted as I've gotten older and I do concur that some of the 'intelligence drop' that was reflected in reduced test scores was in all likelyhood influenced by the loss of memories of similar problems previously solved (i.e. some of my preworked 'solutions' were not available).

Ooops, got to dash, be back later.

 

[qi-tah]

This is a good and fair point.... But here, as in most things, there are 2 sides.

There are many sports where horrific, if not fatal damage, is done with some frequency....... football, hockey, boxing. How about the flaming wrecks in car races - or air shows? It isn't just the pros or even just adults - Kids have died from hit balls in baseball, been rendered quadraplegics in high school football games, dropped dead on the track from heart or breathing conditions.

How about watching somebody sacrifice their entire childhood for 'the Olympic Dream'.... only to wind up crushed and broken also rans.... as 99.99% do? Should we watch any more of that?

Then, there's our own front yard...martial arts. Anyone not know of one or more ugly injuries?

So - if it is amoral to watch pro wrestling.... is it also to watch the Indy 500? The old Geneseo Air Show? My kids' karate tournaments?

You have the decency to frame the issue as the individual choice of an audience member. But too often in the alleged Land of the Free, that question is asked as," Should the government ban...."

Let's suppose we do somehow bring an end to violent sports. Where do these guys then go? To some run of the mill job - where they suffer all too frequent injury at unsafe work places - and do so for $8 an hour and workers comp? Because, you know, it often isn't safer in 'ordinary life' - you just get maimed and die for a lot less.

I guess it depends a lot on what we get out of spectating at contact sports like boxing etal. Some ppl are watching to pick apart the fighter's technique and tactics, others have money on one bloke and don't care how he wins, just as long as he does, still others are simply baying for the sight of blood.

I would venture that martial artists are much more likely to be spectating for the first reason, rather than the latter two - and are also going to be more likely concerned about occupational hazards like head injury etc. Actually, this thread is evidence of such concern!
Banning boxing will not work. I would contend that it would drive competition fighting into the arms of the types of spectators who are out for either the money or the blood. I would rather see better education about head injury, more frequent and better testing of head injury in ALL contact sports, mandatory mouth and headgaurds, etc etc. Harm reduction i guess.

I reckon notions of ethics really always come down to us as individuals... which means that we need to be scrupulously honest about our motives, and when the cost of our information or enjoyment becomes too high. For this reason i don't choose to watch motoGP or Dakar, much as i love motorcycling... the information i gain is negligible compared with the cost (actual and hidden) of fuel, parts, machines and human health.

Just my thoughts
:asian:

 

[Sukerkin]

I have to say that I agree with much of what Exile appended to my post above.

Some of the decline in faculties has been exacerbated and highlighted as I've gotten older and I do concur that some of the 'intelligence drop' that was reflected in reduced test scores was in all likelyhood influenced by the loss of memories of similar problems previously solved (i.e. some of my preworked 'solutions' were not available).

Ooops, got to dash, be back later.

Sorry to have to quote myself to complete the interrupted thought train, especially as this is really off the OP topic. My excuse is that the board software won't let me back in to finish my post .

What I was going to say that in conclusion on the IQ scores point is that my mention of an up to 30 to 50 percentile drop on some tests was a bit of a 'late night' simplistic precis of the circumstances.

Whilst true as a bald statement, it's very misleading as I didn't really elaborate on the fact that this was the gap between two statistically aberrant segments of tests that I took quite a few years apart, one before the accident and one after. One had a result of 180-odd and the other 130-odd, hence, a drop of 50 points.

The core point is that the tests themselves can introduce very different ratings, not just through whether they 'suit' you or not but because the way the results are calculated can be different too.

In retrospect, I should've just stuck to a general statement that a bad side-effect of the damage I received from the head traumas was a perceived (by me) fall in my general level of mental agility, primarily when it came to multi-task simultaneous problem solving.

I think that a lot of that feeling of being less able has come from one primary cause. Pre-accident, I used to be to 'process' multiple information sources concurrently and still be able to work on a task e.g. I could watch TV, listen to music, read textbook sources, hold a conversation and write an essay. Post-accident, I am very much stuck to doing one thing at a time e.g if the TV is on then I find it impossible to read (tho', oddly, I can still listen to music and read).

Anyhow, I feel better now I've clarified that a bit ... and thanks Exile for the kindness of your words in your response :rei:.

 

[thardey]

I'm currently helping a friend of mine who has dealt with erratic behavior, temper, lack of self-control, destructive "episodes", who is otherwise a decent human being, and a good friend.

But this month he suffered three "black-outs" where he was still functioning, but doesn't remember what he was doing. In one he drove a truck into a light pole (for all appearances it looks to have been on purpose), in another he rammed three holes in his wall with his head, and in the third, he was raving so bad the police had to come and calm him down. (That was a long night!)

But they finally diagnosed him with suffering from multiple concussions from earlier in his life, which lead to this behavior. He's taking medicine for Alzheimer's patients, and he's much more stable now, but there were times that I wouldn't have been surprised if something had happened to him that happened to Benoit. He was doing this sort of Jekyll and Hyde kind of a trip. I just hope they get the right medicine for him, and that he stays on it!

 

[arnisador]

Chris Benoit doctor, Phil Astin, sentenced to 10 years

The personal doctor to a professional wrestler who killed himself, his wife and their 7-year-old son was sentenced to 10 years in prison Tuesday, May 12 for illegally distributing prescription drugs to patients.

Dr. Phil Astin, 54, had pleaded guilty Jan. 29 to a 175-count federal indictment.