Development of driving resumption support method for people with higher brain dysfunction using repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation and driving simulator.

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 20K11203
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 59010:Rehabilitation science-related
• Research Institution: Chiba University
• Principal Investigator: MORI Yoshihisa 千葉大学, 医学部附属病院, 特任教授 (60343141)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 山中 義崇 千葉大学, 医学部附属病院, 特任教授 (20400963)
• Project Period (FY): 2020-04-01 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: 高次脳機能障害 / 運転再開支援

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In addition to various evaluations in the hospital, driving evaluations on the road using a training car were conducted for persons with higher brain dysfunction who wished to resume driving to determine whether or not they can drive. Comparing the drivable group and the non-drivable group, the score of the non-drivable group was significantly lower than that of the drivable group in the Symbol Digit Modalities Test in Clinical Assessment for Attention. This test is a visual information processing task in which numbers corresponding to symbols are entered, and it was suggested that impaired distributed attention affects driving ability. In some cases, it was possible to resume driving after reassessment due to the improvement of attention function deterioration. It was considered to be an important evaluation item when performing intervention by neuromodulation in the future.

Free Research Field

リハビリテーション学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

脳血管障害や外傷性脳損傷などの脳部分損傷による高次脳機能障害者の運転再開は社会的問題となっているが、その評価や機能改善に向けた支援方法は確立していない。本研究ではドライビングシミュレータに加え、実車での路上運転評価も行って、運転再開に影響する因子を明らかにした。現在急速に発展しているニューロモジュレーションによる介入を実施する際の指標として有益である。