Former Vike Matt Birk one of three players to donate brains

By PAUL WALSH, Star Tribune

Last update: September 14, 2009 - 2:21 PM

Center Matt Birk, a concussion sufferer while with the Minnesota Vikings, is among the first three active NFL players to donate their brains upon death for injury research, researchers said today.

Joining Birk, in his first season with the Baltimore Ravens, in the donation to the Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy at Boston University School of Medicine are Seattle Seahawk linebacker Lofa Tatupu and Arizona Cardinal receiver Sean Morey.

The players are making the donations of their brain and spinal cord tissue to the center to better allow researchers to better understand the effects of trauma on the brain and spinal cord.

Brain trauma in sports is increasingly seen as a health crisis due to the discovery of a neurodegenerative disease called chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in a number of recently deceased athletes. Over the past several years, CTE was found in 10 deceased athletes including professional football players, boxers, a professional wrestler, and an 18 year-old high school athlete. Only one athlete tested for CTE in that time did not have the disease.

"The science is clear that CTE is a threat to the health and well-being of all contact sports athletes," Birk said. "I would like to do my part to raise awareness and help the research advance toward treatment and an eventual cure."

In 2004, Birk counted a mild concussion among his many injuries that season.

"It's like you're half-drunk," Birk said at the time. "They said I was on the sideline laughing and making jokes. I don't remember it. In fact, we had eight more plays after I had mine. I had no clue the next day what went on in those eight plays."

A few months later, thinking back on his concussion and other injuries that season, Birk said, "That's part of being a football player."

Birk is also making a financial contribution to the non-profit Sports Legacy Institute, whose mission is to reduce concussions among athletes and military service personnel. Birk said he considers the financial donation "an investment in my future, the future of my friends that have played football with me, and the future of all of those children playing the game today."

Said Dr. Robert Cantu, a leading sports concussion expert and clinical professor of neurosurgery at the Boston University School of Medicine: "CTE is the only fully preventable cause of dementia. By studying large numbers of athletes throughout their lives, as well as examining brain tissue through our ... brain bank, we will be able to determine the specific risk factors for CTE and potentially develop effective treatments."

More than 150 former athletes, including 40 retired NFL players, are in the brain donation registry. They will be interviewed annually by phone throughout their lives and, upon death, their brain tissue will be examined by the center. This prospective approach with allow the researchers to examine the relationship between clinical symptoms and pathology for the first time.

CTE, originally referred to as "dementia pugilistica" because it was believed to only affect boxers, is a progressive neurodegenerative disease caused by repetitive trauma to the brain. Early on, CTE sufferers may display clinical symptoms such as memory loss, emotional instability, erratic behavior, depression and problems with impulse control. CTE eventually progresses to full-blown dementia.

Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482

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