Data on whether cervical spine pathologies impair driving abilities are still lacking. In addition, no return-to-driving recommendations after anterior cervical fusion procedures have been published. Therefore, we assessed DRT

before and after anterior cervical discectomy and fusion.

We performed a prospective study with 12 patients (mean age 47.2 years; female 7, male 5). DRT as well as arm and neck pain were evaluated before surgery, on the day before discharge from hospital and at the 4-6-week follow-up examinations. 31 healthy subjects were tested for DRT as a control group.

All patients showed significant improvement in DRT in the longitudinal course (p < 0.05). DRT Selleck SN-38 was 601 ms (median, IQR: 63) before surgery, which was reduced to 580 ms (median, IQR: 112) on the day before discharge from hospital and to 532 ms (median, IQR: 48) at follow-up examination. Control subjects had a driving reaction time of 487 ms (median, IQR: 116), which differed significantly from that of patients at all three testing times (p < 0.05). VAS for arm and neck pain showed significant improvement (p < 0.05).

The present results show a positive effect of anterior cervical discectomy and fusion on driving safety. Based on our data we state that it appears to be safe to resume driving after discharge from hospital. However, patients scheduled to undergo

anterior cervical discectomy and fusion should be informed about increased DRT as compared to healthy individuals.”
“Objective: To validate an item bank for assessing selleck inhibitor and detecting Cell Cycle inhibitor psychological distress in cancer patients by (1) identifying whether additional

items are required in the full item bank; (2) identifying any item bias in the existing item bank; (3) linking levels of distress against thresholds derived from gold-standard psychiatric interviews (PSE/SCAN/SCID).

Method: A Rasch analysis was conducted on a heterogeneous sample of cancer patients (n = 4919) who had completed a combination of eight psychological distress screening instruments. A subset of patients had completed a psychiatric interview along with the HADS (n = 381) or PHQ-9 (n = 440). Item thresholds were plotted along the latent trait. Furthermore, items were assessed for differential item functioning (DIF) by age and gender. Finally, optimum thresholds were derived for the HADS and PHQ-9 and plotted along the latent trait distribution for the entire item bank.

Result: Item thresholds exceeded the range of person measures, although a gap was still present along the latent trait. No DIF was observed for either age or gender. Putative cut-offs were derived for the item bank detecting moderate to severe levels of psychological distress.

Conclusion: The item bank covers the majority of levels of emotional distress reported by cancer patients.