[Psychological aspects of renal transplantation]

Ten adolescents were studied from the psychological viewpoint before and after kidney transplantation. Psychological tests showed that before the transplantation, the patients showed signs of brain damage which did not persist after the operation. IQ was low, especially in areas where fine visual and motor coordination was required. After transplantation, IQ was higher. Perception of the body structure was altered in most patients and it improved after transplantation. The most important content in the projective tests was that of death, before and after the operation, indicating depressive factors that influence personality; other traits were fears and guilt feelings before and after transplantation which leads us to conclude that this type of patients have significant feelings of anxiety when they learn about their disease and which continue indefinitely. In spite of the fact that in the last twenty years the number of patients treated with kidney transplantation has increased, there are not many reports from the psychological viewpoint. It is obvious that in the treatment of this disease, as in any other that is chronic and of an uncertain prognosis, although generally fatal, there thill be a series of emotional factors that cause abrupt changes in all aspects of life in these patients, since they are constantly facing death.