The preoperative psychosocial evaluation of potential altruistic organ donors is a means of exploring a patient's motivations for donation as well as identifying any obstacles that could affect their eligibility as candidates. Evaluators may come across patients who have a previous history or current signs and symptoms of a mental illness that can affect their suitability for living organ donation. Eating disorders are routinely associated with other major psychiatric disorders and medical conditions; the presence of an eating disorder may complicate emotional and physical resilience after transplant, for example, through impaired self-care, a comorbid mood or substance use disorder, or other modulating factors. As a result, patients with eating disorders being evaluated as altruistic donors should be considered high risk candidates. The evaluation of this particular population may be especially challenging, however no guidelines for assessment exist in the literature. We will describe three cases of individuals with eating disorders who presented to our center for evaluation as altruistic donors, followed by a discussion on the approach to such patients, including practical strategies for risk stratification, tools for assessment, and interventions to decrease short- and long-term risk in those patients who are candidates for organ donation.

« Back to 2015 American Transplant Congress