Did Junior Seau Suffer from Brain Injury CTE?

Oceanside, CAThe tragic death May 2 of former National Football League (NFL) star Junior Seau has fanned the flames of debate over the potential for brain injury in professional football players, and the league's alleged role—according to many a brain injury lawsuit brought by the families of affected players—in fostering such injuries.

The investigation is ongoing. However various media reports reveal that the police investigation is, as of May 3, moving forward as a suicide. Foul play is not suspected.

Observers have made the point that the injury to Seau, which claimed his life, was to his chest and not his head. That leaves Seau's brain intact for potential study.

Suicide victims, who take their own lives with a firearm, often do so via a fatal injury to the head as the quickest and most painless route to the hereafter. However, Seau's death by way of a firearm blast to the chest mirrors that of former NFL star and Super Bowl champion Dave Duerson. The former Chicago Bear shot himself in the chest last year to preserve his brain for future study and analysis with regard to the kind of brain trauma that seems to be emerging amongst professional athletes.

Duerson, before he died, left instructions that his brain be sent to researchers. There have been no reports of a possible suicide note from Seau—The Los Angeles Times reported that police did not find one—and it will not be possible to definitively know whether or not Seau suffered from chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) without an analysis to his brain.

Duerson's family, having launched a brain injury lawsuit against the NFL, suspected—as did Duerson himself—that the former football star suffered various symptoms as the result of suspected traumatic brain injury stemming from years of hard hits and concussions in professional football.

CTE has been a recent adjunct to brain injury law. Historically, concussions were simply a byproduct of working in a professional sport such as football or hockey. All in a day's work. Today there are protocols for resting a player following a major hit to the head during a game—a far cry from yesteryear when players were sent back onto the field or returned to the game on their own accord, just minutes following a hit once the initial dizziness stopped.

The NFL has been accused of turning a blind eye to the issue until recently. That's the substance of a brain injury lawsuit brought against the NFL by more than 1,000 former players and/or their families and estates, alleging the league downplayed the seriousness of concussions.

Today's issue of the Philadelphia Inquirer (5/3/12) carries various comments from observers with a stake in the issue. "The side effects of head trauma are a serious issue that cannot be ignored," Philadelphia Eagles guard Evan Mathis wrote on Twitter. "Junior Seau's death will bring the topic into the spotlight."

Brain trauma from an injury can result in brain swelling, a serious condition that if left unchecked can compromise the brain and threaten death. Surgeons often have to temporarily remove portions of the skull in order to give the brain room in which to swell, while healing. It is not known if Seau ever experienced brain swelling.

The former football star was found in an Los Angeles home by his girlfriend on May 2. He was 43. A post-mortem analysis of Seau's brain, if undertaken, would be the only way to determine if his brain showed signs of CTE from years of brain injury while toiling as a line backer in the National Football League.