Open AccessAttitudes toward xenotransplantation—patients waiting for transplantation versus the general public
Author(s) -
Omnell Persson M.,
Persson N. H.,
Ranstam J.,
Hermerén G.
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
transplant international
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.998
H-Index - 82
eISSN - 1432-2277
pISSN - 0934-0874
DOI - 10.1111/j.1432-2277.2001.tb00068.x
Subject(s) - medicine , xenotransplantation , transplantation , kidney transplantation , kidney , human kidney , public health , heart transplantation , surgery , family medicine , intensive care medicine , pathology
The aim of this study was to survey attitudes toward xenotransplantation and to investigate whether there is a difference in attitudes between patients awaiting a kidney transplantation and the general public. A questionnaire was sent to randomly selected members of the public aged 18–75 ( n = 1000) and to all patients of the same age group waiting for kidney transplants in Sweden in 1998 ( n = 460). Among the public, 60% expressed a positive attitude toward receiving an animal kidney graft with the same degree of risk as a human kidney graft, compared with 66% for the patients. The proportion in favour of receiving a heart remained 60% for the public, but rose to 70% for the patients. If a human heart was not available, 61% of the public were for the use of an animal heart, compared with 73% in the patient group. A majority of the respondents would accept a transplant from an animal, provided the result and risk of infection were the same as with a human transplant. A greater proportion of patients had a positive attitude to receiving a xenotransplant than did the general public. A life threatening situation marginally increased the positive proportions.