Head hits and CTE

New research out of Boston University's CTE Center suggests that smaller blows to one's head—hits that fail to register any symptoms of a concussion—can also or may be the cause of the neurodegenerative disease CTE. These researchers studied the brains of four teenage athletes who suffered brain injuries at varying points in time before their deaths and the damaged brains of mice. The researchers hypothesized that damaged blood vessels leaking into brain tissue may cause early CTE.