Driving restriction?

[deleted18755]

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Hi Everyone,

Does your department have any standard policy in regards to restricting patients from driving (specifically for patients with brain mets undergoing WBRT and especially for those who at least appear capable of driving)?

Thanks

 

[Gfunk6]

We do not have any restrictions as standard policy.

Driving restrictions are usually issued in the context of seizure activity. Either the patient has had a documented seizure (and is probably on an anti-epileptic) or the patient has a tumor in a location which has a higher risk for causing seizures such as the medial temporal lobe (and is probably on an anti-epileptic). In cases where patients are told not to drive and continue to drive anyway, we would have to report them to the DMV.

 

[seper]

No written policy, but I tell my patients not to drive and document it in the chart in 2 situations: seizure or cognitive impairment.

 

[Cancerdancer]

A nice review and survey outlining the current landscape with regard to these restrictions...

PMID: 20972603

 

[Palex80]

I generally tell patients not to drive, if they are getting irradiated in the brain region (regardless of the diagnosis).
Patients with large fields or large volume covered my IMRT in other regions, often experience lots of fatigue. In that case, I also don't recommend driving.

I presume however, than in Europe it's easier to tell someone not to drive and use public transportation than in the USA, where distances are generally quite larger and people tend to use their cars more often (lots of free parking space and low gas prices help too).