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New York Rangers Hockey Player Donates Brain After Death

By Katie Kelley

Republish: EasyPublish™ Published: 10Jun2011 Word count: 441 Viewed: 327 time(s) Get Free Content For Your Site

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 told his family that he wished for his brain to be donated 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 of a suicide attempt.

After studying his brain, scientists discovered moderately advanced chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). CTE is a dementia-like disease that affects athletes exposed to repeated brain trauma, and it affects areas of the brain that control judgment, inhibition, impulse control, mood, and memory. Scientists will look for evidence of CTE in Boogaard's brain as well.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1.7 million people sustain a brain injury each year. Of those, 52,000 die and 275,000 are hospitalized. About 75 percent of those traumatic brain injuries are concussions. 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 this past year, many law makers have conducted such investigations into the safer use of popular helmets that are used in student and professional sports.

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