Psychiatric consultation for post-liver-transplantation patients: Regular article

Nien Mu Chiu*, Chao Long Chen, Andrew T.A. Cheng

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal Article peer-review

21 Scopus citations

Abstract

Aim: This report describes the clinical characteristics of referral inpatients who received liver transplantation and the surgeon's concordance with the psychiatric consultation. Methods: During a 4-year period, psychiatric consultation was arranged for 30 post-liver-transplantation inpatients at Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital. A psychiatrist assessed these patients and made psychiatric diagnoses according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, 4th edition. The clinical data were routinely collected via modified MICRO-CARES software. At the end of the 4-year study period, all the medical records of these 30 inpatients were reviewed. Results: Psychiatric diagnosis was made in 70% of the patients (n = 21) in three major categories, including delirious state (n = 8), depressive disorder (n = 5), and anxiety/dyssomnia (n = 8). All these conditions were improved by psychiatric management. We found that the consultee's concordance with recommended drug prescriptions was high with antidepressants in depressive patients and low with antipsychotics in patients with delirium. Moreover, anxiolytics were frequently prescribed in post-transplant inpatients before psychiatric consultation. Conclusion: These findings suggest that psychiatric consultation is beneficial to inpatients after liver transplantation, especially those with depression and delirium.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)471-477
Number of pages7
JournalPsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences
Volume63
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - 08 2009

Keywords

  • Consultation behavior
  • Consultation-liaison psychiatry
  • General hospital psychiatry
  • Liver transplantation
  • Recommendation concordance

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