Organ transplants can change a patient's personality, is that right?

Organ transplants (also known as grafts) are intended to improve the quality of life of the patient, that is, the recipient of an organ donor. It appears that in some rare cases, patients who receive organs from donors show a change in trait. This new nature is thought to be very similar to that of organ donation. For example, a patient has a craving for the donor's favorite food. Wow, is it true that transplanting human organs can also "transfer" the nature of the donor to the recipient? Find out the answer below.

Cell memory theory, fact or hoax?

In the theory of cell memory, the behavioral and emotional changes that the recipient receives from the original donor are caused by the memory being composed and stored in the nerve cells of the donated organ. Heart transplants are said to be most susceptible to memory cells where the transplant recipient experiences changes in the heart organ. This is called the cell memory theory and it supports that a heart transplant can change the nature of the recipient.

Unfortunately, this theory has not been proven correct at all. Even a number of scientists dismissed the main idea of ​​the cell memory theory. This is because human consciousness, behavior and emotions are regulated by the brain. If you have a heart or kidney transplant, it has nothing to do with your awareness or behavior.

After all, until now experts are still studying where the human consciousness or identity comes from. So, it is too far to conclude that a person's consciousness, behavior and emotions can be transferred by transplanting certain organs.

Is there research evidence?

According to a study in the journal Quality of Life Research , a total of 47 patients who received heart transplants during two years in Vienna, Austria were asked to be interviewed. They were interviewed about the changes in nature that occurred after the transplant of the organ.

The result, obtained 3 groups based on the answer. The first group, as much as 79 percent, answered that they did not experience any change in character after surgery.

The second group of 15 percent stated that their personality had changed, but not because of donor organs, but because of the disease and surgery they had to undergo.

Then, group three of 6 percent (three patients) reported different personality changes because of their new hearts.

Not only that, but organ transplants may also change a person's blood type. This happened to an Australian woman named Demi-Lee Brennan who changed after receiving a liver transplant, reports AFP. Nine months after the initial transplant, doctors discovered that his blood type had changed and Brennan acquired a donor immune system as stem cells from his new heart moved to his bone marrow.

Michael Stormon, the hepatologist who treated Brennan at Children's Hospital in Westmead, suspects that, "As a result of the transplant, the majority of his immune system also turned into like the donor." However, the team of doctors who handled Brennan at that time had not found a definite answer why the patient's blood type could change after an organ transplant.

So why would anyone claim to have a change in character after an organ transplant?

To answer this question, a surgeon and transplant specialist from the University of Michigan, dr. Jeff Punch, explain his guess. According to him, the patient had not really changed. It's just that, after surgery their bodies must feel different due to consumption of drugs such as prednisone.

One of the side effects of this drug is loss of appetite. So patients who usually eat rice may not be interested anymore if they have to eat rice. The patient then asks for other foods, such as bread. It turns out that organ donors like to eat bread, too. From there, the patient and his family may make up for themselves the relationship between the patient who asks for bread and the organ donor's favorite food.