Key facts
- Drones could help reduce the time to deliver defibrillators to out-of-hospital cardiac arrest patients.
- In the UK, over 30,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests occur annually, with fewer than 10% surviving.
- Only 30% of cardiac arrest cases in the Greater Paris area were within 500 meters of a fixed AED.
- Using 100 drone bases and 26 additional fixed AEDs could cover over 97% of cases within 500 meters of a fixed AED or 4km of a drone base.
- Drone delivery could reach nearly all modeled cardiac arrest cases within five minutes.
- The study is to be presented at the European Emergency Medicine Congress in Paris.
Drones could significantly improve the speed at which defibrillators reach individuals experiencing out-of-hospital cardiac arrests, according to research suggesting a potential enhancement to emergency medical services. In the UK, over 30,000 such events occur annually, with survival rates below 10%, a figure heavily influenced by the rapid administration of CPR and defibrillation.
Researchers, led by Dr. Hillary Minka and Professor Matthieu Heidet, analyzed data from nearly 30,000 cardiac arrests in the Greater Paris area between 2011 and 2024. Their findings indicated that only about 30% of these events occurred within a 500-meter radius of a fixed automated external defibrillator (AED). To achieve 84.5% coverage within 500 meters, an additional 910 fixed AEDs would be required, and 1,712 extra AEDs for 100% coverage.
However, the study proposed that integrating drones could drastically reduce the need for additional fixed devices. A model incorporating 100 drone bases, operating within a 3,900-meter radius, alongside just 26 extra fixed AEDs, could extend coverage to over 97% of cardiac arrest cases. Further optimization with 200 drone bases and only four additional fixed AEDs could cover more than 99% of cases. In real-world scenarios, drone delivery could reach almost all modeled cardiac arrest cases within the critical five-minute window.
Currently, only about 8% of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest patients in France receive public AED assistance before emergency services arrive, partly due to AEDs being housed in inaccessible locations. The study, which has not yet undergone peer review, is slated for presentation at the European Emergency Medicine Congress in Paris. While the concept of using drones for AED delivery is not new, with some implementation in Sweden, factors like operational costs and the need for trained drone pilots under EMS supervision would need to be integrated into feasibility assessments.