[Psychological aspects of living-donor renal transplantation]

Psychological support before kidney donation is advocated by all authors, but not systematically proposed by all transplantation centers. An analysis of the literature shows that there are many positive aspects to organ donation including improved self-esteem and quality of life. But many secondary psychological effects can also be observed: fear of giving, fear of receiving, laborious evaluation period, problems in the event of complications for the donor or graft failure, anxiety of the spouses of donators and recipients. Despite these problems, donators are highly motivated and very few experience regret after the donation, creating a strong(er) donor-recipient relationship after the graft.