Textbook Nod for Functional Brain Scans Could Shake Up CTE Care and the Medical‑Imaging Business

Why a textbook endorsement matters now

A widely used medical textbook has concluded that functional neuroimaging tools can detect brain changes linked to chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in people who are still alive. That’s a big moment for a field that has long been defined by uncertainty: until now, CTE was mainly confirmed after death. The textbook’s statement is being framed as an inflection point because it treats functional scans as more than an academic idea — it treats them as a practical clinical tool.

For investors and healthcare watchers, that changes the narrative. If neurologists, sports doctors and veterans’ clinics start to accept functional imaging for suspected CTE, demand for certain scans and the services that deliver them could rise. But the endorsement is not an overnight guarantee of mass adoption. It is a credible signal that the medical conversation is shifting, and that makes it a useful moment to look at both the science and the economics behind the change.

What these functional scans actually measure — and where the evidence stands

Functional neuroimaging is a family of techniques that look at brain activity, blood flow or chemical signals rather than just anatomy. Common tools include SPECT (single‑photon emission computed tomography), FDG‑PET (a glucose‑metabolism PET scan), tau PET for misfolded proteins, and functional MRI (fMRI), which tracks blood oxygen changes tied to activity.

In CTE, researchers look for patterns that suggest long‑term injury to certain brain networks — for example, reduced blood flow or altered metabolism in regions tied to mood, memory and behavior. SPECT has been used for years in brain injury clinics because it is widely available and cheaper than PET. The textbook picked studies where SPECT and other functional scans showed consistent regional changes in groups of people with repeated head trauma.

But the evidence is mixed. Many studies are small, use different scanning methods, or compare patients to healthy controls rather than to other brain disorders that can look similar in real patients. That raises the risk of false positives — scans that look abnormal for reasons other than CTE. Tau PET is promising because it aims to image the protein deposits linked to CTE, but tau tracers are still evolving and may not yet cleanly separate CTE from other tau disorders.

So the textbook endorsement is important but cautious: it recognizes useful signals in the scans, while the broader scientific community still wants larger, well‑controlled studies and clearer diagnostic rules before declaring a definitive living test for CTE.

How wider acceptance could ripple through the market

If clinicians begin to rely more on functional scans for suspected CTE, the effect on markets will come in stages. Near term, expect a modest rise in referrals to imaging centers and neurology clinics — not a boom. Many patients and families will seek testing, but payers will be slow to expand coverage without clearer guidelines, keeping growth steady rather than explosive.

Longer term, though, adoption could reshape a few areas. Imaging equipment makers would see a gradual uptick in demand for SPECT and PET cameras, as well as software for analyzing brain patterns. Clinics that specialize in complex brain imaging would likely add CTE protocols, and large hospital systems might build referral programs for veterans and former athletes.

Another potential market is radiopharmaceuticals. Tau PET tracers and other targeted agents command higher margins than general imaging. If a tracer wins broader clinical use for CTE, developers and their partners would benefit. But commercial success depends heavily on reimbursement and clinical acceptance, which can take years to line up.

Companies and corners of the industry to watch

Big medical‑imaging players are the obvious beneficiaries. GE HealthCare (GEHC) makes SPECT and PET systems and could see incremental sales if clinical demand rises. Siemens Healthineers (SHL) and Royal Philips (PHG) also supply scanners and analytic software that hospitals use. Canon (CAJ) is another vendor with a footprint in diagnostic imaging.

On the services side, chains and hospital systems that run imaging centers — for example RadNet (RDNT) and HCA Healthcare (HCA) — could pick up extra volume. Diagnostic firms such as Quest Diagnostics (DGX) and Laboratory Corporation of America (LH) are not primary imaging providers, but they could partner on multi‑disciplinary diagnostic programs or offer ancillary testing tied to CTE workups. Keep an eye on earnings calls, guideline updates from neurology societies, and any regulatory filings related to tau tracers or new CPT billing codes — those are the near‑term catalysts that will move stocks if the market gets convinced of real revenue upside.

What could derail adoption — and what to watch next

The biggest risks are scientific and financial. Clinically, diagnostic accuracy is not settled. If follow‑up studies show high rates of misclassification, payers and clinicians will pull back. On the money side, reimbursement is the gatekeeper: without clear coverage rules from Medicare and major insurers, hospitals and clinics will hesitate to build programs because out‑of‑pocket costs limit patient demand.

There are also legal and ethical angles. A reliable living diagnosis of CTE would create new medicolegal claims from former athletes and others, which could slow adoption or raise costs for providers. Regulators may demand higher evidence standards for tracers or formal diagnostic criteria before allowing broad clinical use.

Practical signals investors should watch: guideline language from neurology associations, Medicare or CMS rulings on coverage and codes, large health systems announcing CTE programs, results from larger controlled imaging studies, and commercial progress on tau PET tracers. If these line up toward wider acceptance, the market effect will be real but still gradual. For now, the textbook nod is an important credibility boost — it starts a new chapter in how clinicians, families and markets think about living diagnosis of CTE, but it does not close the book.

Sources

• prnewswire.com