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Psychological care of heart-transplanted children and their families.

Drees G, Schmid C, Hoffmeier H, Tjan TD, Löher A, Scheld HH

Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, University Hospital Münster, Münster, Germany. gaby.drees@ukmuenster.de

Heart transplantation is not a unique event, neither from the medical point of view nor from the standpoint of psychosocial care. It is a process which begins during the evaluation for transplantation and continues up to re-integration of the patient into everyday life. It is obvious that during the entire time both the child suffering from heart disease and the family of the affected child have to deal with heavy emotional stresses and adjustments. For this reason transplantation centers are obliged by law to provide psychological care.

Published 10 February 2005 in Thorac Cardiovasc Surg, 53: S125-8.
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