Preoperative expectations and postoperative quality of life in liver transplant survivors

To assess normalization in the lives of liver transplant patients and the impact of preoperative expectations on postoperative quality of life (QOL).

A semistructured interview, 2 QOL questionnaires, and chart reviews of medical histories.

Internal medicine department at Innsbruck university hospital, Austria.

Fifty-five patients (32 men, 23 women) with liver transplants.

The Sickness Impact Profile (SIP) and Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-General.

Patients' preoperative expectations of a normal life style posttransplantation were predominantly optimistic (60%), but postoperatively only 40% thought that their expectations had been realized. The patients' SIP values showed significant impairments in nearly every area of life when compared with the values of a healthy control group. Only "complications during the hospitalized phase" had a statistically significant impact among the sociodemographic and clinical parameters on postoperative QOL. The lowest QOL scores were found among patients whose expectations of a return to normal life style had not been realized.

Unmet life-style expectations after liver transplantation may lead to increased stress, which affects QOL long term. This finding is of clinical relevance; therapeutic measures, particularly professional pretransplant counseling, are indicated.