Poster Presentation FCIC Survivorship Conference 2013

Return to driving after a diagnosis of brain tumour (#49)

Stacey George 1 , Ganessan Kichenadasse 2
  1. Rehabilitation Aged and Extended Care, Flinders University, Adelaide, SA, Australia
  2. Flinders Medical Centre, Adelaide, SA, Australia
Return to driving after recovery from neurological damage improves independence and quality of life. But, there is a general apprehension about the driving ability of brain tumour (BT) survivors. Identifying individuals who are safe to return to driving following the diagnosis and treatment of BT requires validated assessment tools.
 
Medical guidelines regarding return to driving following BT’s are general in nature, and as a consequence the decisions made related to driving are largely determined by the clinical judgment of individual medical practitioners. A lack of consensus exists regarding the responsibilities of medical practitioners in managing return to driving when treating people with BT [1], resulting in patients often being given conflicting advice [2].

The design of this pilot study is a prospective correlational study on a cohort of drivers treated for BT. The research objective in this study is examine the validity of pre-driving tools in BT survivors through comparison to a standardised on-road assessment at point of referral. This information will inform clinical practice by evaluating objective measures for practitioners to guide decision-making related to driving following cancer.

  1. Thomas S, Mehta MP, Kuo JS, Robins HI, Khuntia D.Current practices of driving restriction implementation for patients with brain tumours Neuro Oncol. Published online 23 October 2010. DOI: 10.1007/s11060-010-0439-z.
  2. McDonald KL. Brain tumours and driving. Neuro Oncol. Published online 15 December 2010. DOI: 10.1007/s11060-010-0487-z.