Central nervous system (CNS) cancers — primary brain and spinal cord tumours, and CNS metastases, cause a distinctive burden of physical, cognitive, communication and psychosocial impairment. These impairments translate into disability affecting mobility, self-care, cognition, communication, vocation and social participation, with substantial impact on patients, families and carers. Although the definition and expectation of ‘Survivorship’ is heterogenous amongst this group, quality of life, patient experience and carer burden can still be improved with rehabilitation.
The aim of this presentation is to summarise the impact of issues people living CNS cancers face, including resulting impairments of CNS cancers, outline the scope and role of multidisciplinary rehabilitation in delivering comprehensive functional assessment, providing impairment-directed management and coordination of interdisciplinary rehabilitation across various rehabilitation settings, drawing on existing evidence, literature and practice.