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During the late hours of April 19th, a high-tech drone approximately the size of a washing machine took off from a southwestern Baltimore neighborhood and transported a human kidney to a nearby hospital. Once the kidney was delivered a team of surgeons was able to successfully transplant the organ to a critically ill patient.
This ten minute, 2.8-mile drone flight was the first ever in the world to deliver an organ. You can also basically guarantee that it will not be the last. Drones are currently being used to deliver medical supplies in Rwanda and other African nations and Vanuatu, a Pacific island nation. Most experts can agree that organ-delivering medical drones are poised to not only take off in the US but also around the world.
According to Joseph R Scalea, a transplant surgeon at the University of Maryland and the team leader behind the proof-of-concept flight, “organ drones may help improve access to transplants, decrease costs, and improve quality.”
For the best chance of saving a life, an organ must be transplanted as soon as possible once they are removed from the donor’s body. However, time may not always be on your side. It takes precious time to transport these organs across the country, and the typical means of transporting these organs such as airplanes, helicopters, and motor vehicles all have their limitations.
Scalea states that charters can be quite costly, commercial aircraft can be too slow, and small aircraft can be rather inconvenient and dangerous to the transplant teams. He believes that drones could cut down on the time an organ spends in transit by approximately 70%. When you are dealing with rugged terrain, traffic-clogged streets, flooded areas, or icy roads, a drone could become the quickest and most accessible way to get medical supplies to where they are needed the most. And, these precious seconds could mean life or death to their patients.
These drones are not your typical drone. They are built custom to be able to safely carry these organs to their final destinations. The team had to create a one of a kind system that is within the regulatory structure of the FAA, but the drone also has to carry the extra weight of the organ, cameras and organ tracking, communications and safety systems are also necessary, especially in densely populated areas. Most experts agree that there are many obstacles that may come up in our crowded skies, but once these obstacles are safely addressed, they predict that drone delivery for organs will become commonplace. And, you may see drones delivering organs routinely sooner than you think.