Selection of donors for adult living-donor liver donation: results of the assessment of the first 205 donor candidates.

Psychosomatic assessment for living liver donors for adults has as yet not been described in detail. Between August 1998 and September 2003, 205 donor candidates were admitted for psychosomatic evaluation; 13.2% of whom (N=27) were excluded. Mental disturbances, especially when accompanied with social stress, were frequent reasons for exclusion. Selected donors had higher social status with regard to education and employment rate than other donor candidates. Candidates with better psychosocial resources are selected in the psychosomatic evaluation, and this contributes to the good psychosocial outcome of living donors.