Endeavor Health part of first-of-its-kind trial to diagnose CTE in live patients

EVANSTON, Ill., Jan. 6, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Endeavor Health is part of a trial aimed at diagnosing chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a progressive neurodegenerative disease caused by repeated head impacts, in living patients. Among those with highest documented risk of CTE are professional athletes, including football players and boxers.

Currently, CTE can only be diagnosed via autopsy. If doctors were able to diagnose those patients while living, it could open new doors to address suicidality, depression and other symptoms they may experience.

"We hope that if we can diagnose CTE in people who are living, then we can one day treat it or prevent its progression," said neurosurgeon Julian Bailes, MD, Arlene and Marshall Bennett and Joseph A. Tarkington, MD, Chair of Neurosurgery at Endeavor Health Neurosciences Institute, who has been studying CTE for more than 20 years. "You can't help a patient with their disease if you can only tell them they have it when they're dead."

This new diagnostic trial will confirm if doctors can diagnose CTE via a positron emission tomography (PET) scan, a nuclear imaging test that uses radioactive drugs called "tracers" to show how organs and tissues are performing.

In patients with CTE, tau and amyloid proteins are broken down and accumulated in the brain. The tracer looks for tau and amyloid proteins in the brain and when it binds to them, it emits radioactivity. Doctors look to scan for dementia and other cognitive problems this way.

"A PET can allow us to detect changes occurring in the brain that are not possible with other kinds of imaging," said Chad Yucus, MD, a neurologist specializing in dementia and principal investigator for the trial at Endeavor Health. "We're looking for any common sign that could help us spot this going forward."

CTE is a risk for anyone who suffers repeated blows to the head, such as military personnel, victims of domestic violence and professional athletes. The repeated blows cause compounding damage and scarring on the brain.

"This injury is not like when somebody gets in a car accident and hits their head on the windshield in a single event," Dr. Bailes said. "Rather this is a different type of brain injury where the brain gets hit thousands of times, so-called repetitive traumatic brain injury."

Dr. Bailes began studying CTE with his colleague, Bennet Omalu, MD, at the University of Pittsburgh. Director Ridley Scott would eventually make a movie about their research called Concussion, starring Will Smith as Dr. Omalu and Alec Baldwin as Dr. Bailes.

He's now proud to work with Dr. Yucus and colleagues conduct this multi-site diagnostic trial that could give doctors the groundbreaking ability to diagnose CTE while there's still time to do something about it. He said the ability to diagnose the condition in living patients could lead to better preventative measures and possibly drugs that could treat CTE.

"The hope is that if we can diagnose it while the patient is living, maybe we can treat some of the symptoms or limit their progression," said Dr. Bailes. "This could open many new doors to help those who suffer with the chronic effects of prior brain injury."

About Endeavor Health
Endeavor Health℠ is a Chicagoland-based integrated health system driven by our mission to help everyone in our communities be their best. As Illinois' third-largest health system and third-largest medical group, we proudly serve an area of more than 4.1 million residents across seven northeast Illinois counties. Our more than 28,300 team members, including more than 1,900 employed physicians, are the heart of our organization, delivering seamless access to personalized, pioneering, world-class patient care across more than 300 ambulatory locations and nine hospitals, including eight Magnet-recognized acute care hospitals – Edward (Naperville), Elmhurst, Evanston, Glenbrook (Glenview), Highland Park, Northwest Community (Arlington Heights), Skokie and Swedish (Chicago) and Linden Oaks Behavioral Health Hospital (Naperville). For more information, visit www.endeavorhealth.org.

Contact: Baylee Pulliam
(859) 619-4087
[email protected]

SOURCE Endeavor Health