Does Organ Transplant Change A Recipient's Personality?

Heart transplantation is not simply a question of replacing an organ that no longer functions. The heart is often seen as source of love, emotions, and focus of personality traits. To gain insight into the problem of whether transplant patients themselves feel a change in personality after having received a donor heart, 47 patients who were transplanted over a period of 2 years in Vienna, Austria, were asked for an interview. Three groups of patients could be identified: 79% stated that their personality had not changed at all postoperatively. 

In this group, patients showed massive defense and denial reactions, mainly by rapidly changing the subject or making the question ridiculous. Fifteen per cent stated that their personality had indeed changed, but not because of the donor organ, but due to the life-threatening event. 

Six per cent (three patients) reported a distinct change of personality due to their new hearts. These incorporation fantasies forced them to change feelings and reactions and accept those of the donor. 

Verbatim statements of these heart transplant recipients show that there seem to be severe problems regarding graft incorporation, which are based on the age-old idea of the heart as a centre that houses feelings and forms the personality.

Changes in Emotions and Temperament

Two types of emotional changes are reported following heart transplantation. First, some recipients experience specific emotions that they identify as originating from the donor. Second, recipients' temperament, or emotional reactivity to stimuli, is sometimes altered.

Organ donors may be doing more than just saving lives. They may be giving a 'new life' to organ transplant recipients. According to Donate Life America's 2011 statistics, Many organ transplant recipients describe a change in personality, reporting they have acquired the tastes, emotions and even memories of their deceased donors.

The Average life expectancy of a heart transplant recipient?

Results: Survival rates 1, 5, and 10 years after transplantation were 87%, 77%, and 57%, respectively, and the average life expectancy was 9.16 years. The mental QOL of patients 10 years after heart transplantation was similar to that among the general population.

Why do heart transplants only last 10 years?

That is because of improvements in the surgery, but also because of improvements in the medication that prevents rejection.” Still, there is a long way to go in terms of increasing the longevity of transplanted organs beyond 10, 20 and 30 years. 

John McCafferty

Longest lived transplant recipient

John McCafferty (pictured) receives a heart transplant at Harefield Hospital in London, after being diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy at the age of 39.

In general, though, statistics show that among all people who have a heart transplant, half are alive 11 years after transplant surgery. Of those who survive the first year, half are alive 13.5 years after a transplant.

Can a person have two heart transplants?

Nobody had yet lived two decades with a transplanted heart, and a patient getting a second transplant based on longevity (rather than rejection) was unheard of. Over the years, both Fishbein and Weston have seen the heart transplant industry evolve as doctors and patients learned what works and what doesn't.

What are the side effects of a heart transplant?

• Infection.
• Bleeding during or after the surgery.
• Blood clots that can cause heart attack, stroke, or lung problems.
• Breathing problems.
• Kidney failure.
• Coronary allograft vasculopathy (CAV). ...
• Failure of the donor heart.
• Death.

#RESEARCH

#HEART

#HEALTH

#DONORS

#RECIPIENTS

#MEDICAL

#DOCTORS