A psychological support concept and quality of life research in a liver transplantation program: an interdisciplinary multicenter study.

Considering the increasing number of liver transplantations with longer periods of transplant function, there is a growing need for quality of life research in the field. In addition to lethality, mortality and rehabilitation, parameters of 'quality of life' are to be evaluated: the patient's rating of his subjective physical symptoms, psychological condition (anxiety, depression and mental adjustment), social reintegration and life satisfaction. This paper describes our psychological support program that has been established at the Hamburg LTX center as well as the first results of the ongoing QoL research study. Using the methods developed by the Hamburg Study group on 'quality of life in surgery', 38 liver transplantation patients of the University of Chicago (cross-sectional study with control groups of patients with chronic liver disease as well as healthy individuals) and 29 patients of the University Clinic of Hamburg (longitudinal study with points of evaluation before and 2, 6, 12, 24 and 36 months after transplantation) have been evaluated. First results: (1) All successfully transplanted patients show a significant postoperative increase of their overall quality of life. (2) The psychological parameters of quality of life are only partly correlated with physical symptoms. (3) There is a high correlation between rejection crisis periods and the decrease of all quality of life parameters. (4) In both samples men have a lower quality of life than women, (5) Preoperative depression and lack of social support might be considered as being possible risk factors for long-term survival. (6) Long-term survivors rate their quality of life significantly higher than patients with chronic liver disease and--despite some persisting somatic restrictions--as high as healthy controls. (7) A psychotherapeutic support program increases the patient's compliance resulting a better adaption to the transplant procedure including rehabilitation.