NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Talk about on-time delivery.
Rescue workers in Sweden say they have used a drone to convey an automated external defibrillator (AED) to the scene of a cardiac arrest in just over three minutes, potentially saving the patient's life.
The case, reported in the New England Journal of Medicine, documents how an airdropped AED could improve the odds for people whose hearts have stopped in a place where no defibrillator is readily available.
It "has the potential to be a relevant and important part in the chain of survival in the future," researchers from Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm conclude in a letter to the journal
The resuscitation occurred December 9 where a 71-year old man collapsed while shoveling snow outside his home.
His wife found him, and an emergency physician who happened to pass by began chest-compression resuscitation.
As part of a study where five drones equipped with AEDs are based at two airports, one drone was dispatched to the scene. The craft are remotely piloted by humans.
The 673-meter (0.4-mile) flight took 3 minutes 19 seconds. A neighbor retrieved the AED from the drone.
The first cardiac shock was administered by the emergency physician just before the arrival ambulance workers at the patient's side, 5 minutes 30 seconds after the drone was dispatched.
