EFFECTIVENESS OF INTEGRATED MULTIDISCIPLINARY REHABILITATION IN PRIMARY BRAIN CANCER SURVIVORS IN AN AUSTRALIAN COMMUNITY COHORT: A CONTROLLED CLINICAL TRIAL

Objective: To evaluate effectiveness of a multidisciplinary rehabilitation program for persons following definitive primary brain tumour treatment in a community cohort. Methods: The brain tumour (glioma) survivors (n=106) were allocated either to the treatment group (n=53) (intensive ambulatory multidisciplinary rehabilitation), or the waitlist control group (n=53). The primary outcome Functional Independence Measure (FIM), measured 'Activity' limitation; secondary measures included Depression, Anxiety Stress Scale, Perceived Impact Problem Profile and Cancer Rehabilitation Evaluation System. Assessments were at baseline, 3 and 6 months after program completion. Results: Participants were predominantly women (56%), with mean age 51 years (standard deviation 13.6) and median time since diagnosis of 2.1 years. Intention-to-treat analysis showed a significant difference between groups at 3-month in favour of multidisciplinary rehabilitation program in FIM motor subscales: 'self-care', 'sphincter', 'locomotion', 'mobility'(p<0.01 for all); and FIM 'communication' (p<0.01) and 'psychosocial' subscales (p<0.05), with small to moderate effect size (r=0.2-0.4). At 6-month follow-up, significant improvement in the treatment group was maintained only for FIM 'sphincter', 'communication' and 'cognition' subscales (p<0.01 for all). No difference between groups was noted in other subscales. Conclusions: brain tumour survivors can improve function with multidisciplinary rehabilitation, with some gains maintained up to 6 months. Evidence for specific interventions in the 'blackbox' of rehabilitation is needed.