How defibrillator-delivery drones could save lives in the UK

Earlier this year, a 71-year-old man in Trollhattan, Sweden, suffered a heart attack while shoveling snow outside his home – his heart suddenly stopped.

A passerby rushed to help and began performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) to restore blood and oxygen flow to the brain and other vital organs, while a bystander called an ambulance.

It was a race against time. Without a heartbeat, the man’s heart had to be resuscitated with a defibrillator.

Statistics show that for every minute that passes without defibrillation, the survival rate of someone who has a heart attack drops by ten percent.

But before the rescue team arrived, there was another arrival: a flying drone with a defibrillator.

The remote-controlled device was sent from an emergency base several miles away as part of a trial to see if using flying machines to deliver a defibrillator at the scene of a heart attack could improve survival.

The drone, which reached the patient long before the paramedics, took just three minutes to arrive. He had managed to fly a direct route, avoided congested city streets and gained vital minutes.

The doctor used the defibrillator to restart the man’s heart, and the patient made a full recovery.

The film was one of the first examples of how drone technology currently used in wildlife monitoring, military reconnaissance and missile strikes could transform some aspects of modern healthcare.

Drones are usually powered by batteries or solar power. They can reach speeds of up to 60 mph and can travel several miles before needing to be recharged. Some are remotely controlled by trained “pilots”, while others are equipped with navigation technology, meaning they can reach their destination after entering a zip code.

In 2019, doctors in Baltimore, United States, used a specially modified drone to transport a donor kidney from hospital to hospital where a patient was waiting for a transplant.

The machine, which carries the kidney in the refrigerator to keep it at the right temperature, is equipped with a parachute to prevent damage to the organ in case of exhaustion.

A passerby rushed to help and began performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) to restore blood and oxygen flow to the brain and other vital organs, while a bystander called an ambulance.

He completed the three-mile journey in minutes. In organ donation, it is essential to have a transplant as soon as possible to increase the chances of success.

There are currently several initiatives in the UK to see if drone use can save more lives, provide cancer drugs and improve Covid testing. One is the Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust, which has partnered with drone manufacturers and experts in an initiative similar to the Swedish project.

The team equipped commercially available drones with automated external defibrillators (AEDs). These self-powered machines guide an untrained person through the defibrillation process on someone without a pulse, using pre-recorded verbal instructions.

Around 30,000 people in the UK have a heart attack each year, mostly at home or in public. Arrests occur when problems with the heart’s electrical signals cause the heart to stop beating properly and pump blood throughout the body.

Thousands of AEDs are installed in shopping malls, offices, schools and airports for passer-by’s emergencies. If a passerby calls 999, the controller usually knows where the nearest AED is.

However, it is estimated that publicly available antiepileptic drugs are used in only a small proportion of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests, as they are often locked in places out of reach or too far to be useful.

Meanwhile, average ambulance wait times for heart attack and stroke victims in the UK have risen to 70 minutes or more – more than four times the 18-minute target – due to overburdened services and related staff shortages in Covid.

Welsh researchers conducted six fictional flights covering a total distance of about 60 miles. The UAVs flew to their targets, leaving a defibrillator attached to a parachute for use in a simulated emergency drill.

The project results, published in the journal PLoS One, showed that drones can be used effectively, covering three miles in less than three minutes.

Dr. Nigel Rees, head of research and innovation at Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust, said: “This has the potential to save more lives than cardiac arrest. The survival rate for out-of-hospital cardiac arrests is only about 8%.

“Drones will not replace defibrillators in public places, but they will be a valuable addition.”

The team has now requested additional research funding to explore the practicality of a drone rescue service.

Professor Martin Cowie, cardiologist at the Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Foundation Trust in London, said: “It’s a great idea to use UAVs in this way because while community defibrillators have made a difference, you won’t find one on every street. . corner or any remote area.

“This isn’t just about saving someone’s life. It’s also about preserving it significantly so that they not only survive, but also emerge without any brain damage. If it’s possible to keep a defibrillator drone in place in three or four minutes, that could make a huge difference.’

In 2020, the government announced a £33m funding to research aerospace technologies and drones, among others, for use in the healthcare sector.

Most of the projects he approved involved the use of drones to combat Covid. An ongoing initiative in Essex is testing the use of drones to send Covid blood and swab between hospitals and laboratories to limit human contact and speed up processing.

Another plan in Cornwall is to deploy drones to provide Covid test kits and personal protective equipment (PPE) to rural communities in the county and the Isles of Scilly.

Similar schemes using drones to transport Covid test kits to remote areas have also been launched in parts of Scotland.

Meanwhile, another project has seen drones deliver essential chemotherapy drugs to Isle of Wight hospitals. The island is currently dependent on mainland hospitals for the supply of chemotherapy drugs.

However, they must be transported by road to Portsmouth and then taken by ferry to the Isle of Wight and taken by taxi to St Mary’s Hospital in Newport. This four-hour journey may be longer if the ferry service is disrupted.

Chemotherapy drugs have a relatively short shelf life and can be lost if not used in a timely manner. Drone testing can minimize treatment delays by reducing travel time to just 30 minutes. Research results are expected in the coming months,

Maggie Oldham, former Isle of Wight NHS Trust Chair, said: “Transporting objects with a drone across the Solent will allow our patients to receive their prescription chemotherapy drugs efficiently.” she said.

However, there is a major obstacle to the widespread use of drones in healthcare. UK law dictates that a drone must be flown where only the pilot can see it, in most cases no more than a few hundred meters.

This is to prevent accidents where drones enter the runway or injure people nearby.

But it rules out the routine use of drones to drop defibrillators on heart attack victims who may be several miles away.

Trials using drones in this way have received special permission from the Civil Aviation Authority to fly them into airspace corridors where there is little or no risk of collision.

Drone manufacturers are working on software that allows vehicles to securely communicate with other air traffic to prevent accidents.

“Perhaps we need new legislation to change the rules that should stay in sight when drones are used for medical purposes,” said Professor Cowie.