Hockey Star, Derek Boogaard, Donates Brain for Scientific Research - By: Katie Kelley

Derek Boogaard, hockey player for the New York Rangers and former member of the Minnesota Wild, was found dead in his apartment. His brain will be donated to the Sports Legacy Institute in conjunction with Boston University Medical School for research. Boogaard's parents say that they will donate his brain to researchers who study the effects of concussion in athletes.

Dr. Robert Stern, co-director for Boston University's Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy, confirmed that the family has donated his brain to the VA CSTE Brain Bank. The center focuses on studying trauma on the brain and spinal cord that have been related to sports-related injuries.

Boogaard is not the only athlete who has had his brain donated. Former Chicago Bears safety, David Duerson, requested that his brain be donated for study after his death. Before his death, Duerson had been working hard to raise awareness about brain injuries. For instance, he requested his family that they donate his brain to research before he died.

His death also raised questions about the long-term side-effects of brain injuries that are experienced during sports-related activities. Duerson died from committing suicide.

Examining his brain, researchers uncovered moderately advanced chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). CTE is a disease similar to dementia that occurs in athletes exposed to repetitive brain trauma, and it impairs sections of the brain that control mood, impulse control, judgment, inhibition, and memory. Scientists will also try to find evidence of CTE in his brain.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1.7 million people experience a brain injury each and every year. Of those, 52,000 die and 275,000 are hospitalized. Concussions account for almost 75 percent of total traumatic brain injuries. 16.5 percent of all brain injuries are caused by situations where people strike something or are stuck against something such as what often occurs in sports. Athletes are put at much higher risk for sustaining a brain injury that could result in long-term effects.

Several law makers have attempted to pass congressional bills requiring tougher regulations for the safety of athletes. For example, New Jersey's Gov. Chris Christie (R) signed a bill into law earlier this year, requiring public and private school athletic coaches to eliminate any student who shows signs of a concussion.

Also, investigations into safer construction of athletic helmets have been done with the hopes of creating new regulations that will make these helmets much safer for athletes, both amateur and professional, to use. Just in this past year, legislators have organized investigations into the safer use of popular helmets that are used in leisure and organized sports.

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To learn more about the long-term consequences of sustaining a traumatic brain injury, visit http://brain-injury.legalview.info/ and to learn more about auto accidents, please visit http://crash.legalview.info/

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