The adolescent transplant recipient.
Adolescents constitute a significant proportion of pediatric transplant patients, whether they have survived a transplant in early childhood (like most heart and liver recipients) or are transplanted in older childhood or adolescence, such as many renal transplant recipients. Their needs can be significantly different from either children or adults, as they are undergoing a major transformation that involves making educational and vocational decisions and commitments, establishing a new and more equal relationship with their parents, discovering their sexual identity, taking increasing responsibility for their health and creating the moral, philosophic, and ethical perspective that they will carry through their lives. This article discusses adolescent issues in transplantation.
Kaufman
Miriam
M
The Transplant Centre, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON M5G 1X8, Canada. miriam.kaufman@sickkids.ca
Shemesh
Eyal
E
Benton
Tami
T
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D005260:Female; D006803:Human Development; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D055118:Medication Adherence; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000517:prevention & control; D016377:Organ Transplantation / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000523:psychology* / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D010347:Patient Care Planning; D011627:Puberty; D019529:Sexuality; D012917:Social Adjustment