The discovery of stage 1 chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in a 24-year-old former National Football League (NFL) player is drawing renewed attention to how early the brain disease may begin to develop in athletes exposed to repeated head impacts.
Researchers at the Boston University CTE Center found that former Dallas Cowboys defensive lineman Marshawn Kneeland showed pathological signs consistent with CTE during a postmortem examination conducted after he died by suicide in November.
