Abstract

OTERO SILICEO, ENRIQUE  and  PADILLA RUBIO, JOEL. Dementia pugilistica 1a. parte. Arch. Neurocien. (Mex., D.F.) [online]. 2004, vol.9, n.2, pp.114-119. ISSN 1028-5938.

Sports is considered a synonym for body and mind health. However, the so called contaet sports, the main example being boxing, more or less go beyond this definition. Contemporary boxing is a spetacle, who is a continuation of historical fights of gladiators. For many years, several complications and head alterations have been related to boxing involving both the face and the skull. And, because of their outcome, some of the most important alterations are neuropsychiatric such as dementia pugilistica. A review of the available records indicates that there have been a substantial number of fatalities in primarily professional but also amateur boxers due to intracranial injuries sustained in the ring in comparison to the numbers of boxers at risk. Dementia pugilistica is the result of chronic traumatic brain injury referred to as the neurological disorder due to repeated head injuries. About 20% of professional boxers show manifestations of chronic traumatic brain injury compared to amateur boxers where this incidence is lower because of less physical exposure due to head protection and the reduced number of rounds in fights as well as the stringent safety rules on the ring. Several risk factors to develop chronic traumatic brain injury are known. There is also a body of knowledge on the possible pathophysiological bases and pathological characteristics of chronic traumatic brain injury from brain biopsies where a similarity to Alzheimer's disease is found. The clinical picture involves neuropsycchiatric disorders such as cognitive, behavioral, and thinking alterations as well as Parkinson's like motor alterations. Diagnosis is based on the history of exposure as a boxer, neuropsychiatric studies, an EEG, a CAT sean and MRI.

Keywords : boxing; lesion; brain injury; Parkinson.