Attitudes of patients before and after transplantation towards various allografts

Background, The presence of an allogeneic graft inside the body may have ps ychological impact on transplant patients. It was the aim of this study to evaluate the attitude of patients before and after different types of organ transplantation towards organ allografts. Methods. A total of 1,049 patients (722 patients after and 327 patients on the waiting list for either kidney, liver, heart, or lung transplantation) under care of a single transplant center were studied using a questionnaire with blinded analysis of the data. Mental condition of the patients, their attitude towards the allograft and its donor, emotional stress caused by a graft, and correlation of the attitudes with clinical and demographic para meters were analyzed. Results. The self-reported mental condition of the patients was markedly an d consistently better after organ transplantation; 27% of patients before a nd 60% after transplantation were in good mental condition. Sixty-two perce nt of transplant patients considered the graft as their own organ, 37% rega rded it as a foreign organ now belonging to their body, and 1% considered i t as a foreign body; among waiting List patients, 40%, 55%, and 5% assumed they would perceive their graft accordingly. The graft caused considerable emotional stress for 2% of transplant patients, whereas for 70% it did not cause any stress; the latter was assumed by 47% of patients before transpla ntation. Eleven percent of transplant patients frequently think about the o rigin of their graft, and 30% would like to have information about their do nor. Knowledge about different religion, opposite sex, homosexuality, suici dal death, and age above 65 years of their donor would be of moderate or ma jor concern for 0%, 3%, 21%, 24%, and 38% of the patients, respectively. Conclusions. The comprehensive survey shows that transplant patients incorp orate their graft well into their body image. Emotional stress caused by th e graft is very low and is generally less than assumed before transplantati on. Knowledge about certain characteristics of the donor may cause increase d concerns in some patients.