Former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez, who killed himself in April while serving a life sentence for first-degree murder, has been diagnosed with chronic traumatic encephalopathy, Boston University's CTE Center announced Thursday.
Hernandez died at age 27 and is one of the youngest former NFL players known to have the devastating neurodegenerative disease.
Led by Dr. Ann McKee, the center found that Hernandez had Stage 3 CTE. Stage 4 is the most serious. A post-mortem examination also found that he had "early brain atrophy" and "large perforations" on a central membrane in his brain.
The disease is associated with "aggressiveness, impulsivity, depression, memory loss and other cognitive changes," the center said.
Hernandez was convicted in 2015 in the murder of Odin Lloyd. In 2017, he was acquitted in a double-homicide case. Five days after that, he hung himself in his prison cell.
A study published earlier this year in the Journal of the American Medical Association found 110 of 111 brains of former NFL players studied showed signs of CTE. Pro Football Hall of Famers Frank Gifford, Junior Seau and Mike Webster are among the former players to be diagnosed with the disease.
CTE can only be definitively diagnosed after death.
Hernandez played 38 regular-season games over three seasons for the Patriots.
