{"id":43015,"date":"2021-12-02T08:54:45","date_gmt":"2021-12-02T13:54:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/?post_type=emagazine&p=43015"},"modified":"2022-07-27T07:25:27","modified_gmt":"2022-07-27T11:25:27","slug":"drones-medical-organ-delivery","status":"publish","type":"emagazine","link":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/secure-futures-magazine\/drones-medical-organ-delivery\/43015\/","title":{"rendered":"Will drones be the next tech to transform healthcare?"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was the longest five seconds of Dr. Shaf Keshavjee\u2019s life. On a late afternoon in 2021, he waited on the rooftop of Canada\u2019s Toronto General Hospital, watching a drone crest the horizon and hover above its landing pad. \u201cIt seemed to hover forever,\u201d says the director of the Toronto Lung Transplant Program.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn medicine, you do many stressful things with unknown outcomes. You\u2019re trained to handle it, because you have complete control of the situation,\u201d he tells me. \u201cBut this was different. I had to trust technology out of my control.\u201d<\/p>\n

The drone carried a lightweight, carbon fiber container holding a pair of lungs, ready to be transplanted into a 63-year-old patient.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The lungs, filled with oxygen and set at the correct temperature, traveled hundreds of feet in the air for nearly a mile over busy downtown Toronto. It took six minutes.<\/p>\n

This breakthrough flight was another rung on the ladder of a new application for drones in healthcare: Delivering organs quickly and efficiently for life-saving surgery. But at each rung, there are challenges \u2013 like responsible management of the crowded airspace of a new kind of highway.<\/p>\n\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Autonomous, vertical-landing planes<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Disrupting delivery?<\/span><\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/header>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

How autonomous electric planes could change the logistics industry.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\tRead more<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/article>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n

Flying medical supplies to kidneys and corneas<\/h2>\n

Drones, unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) were once regarded mainly as a hobby. But they\u2019re now poised to reach a market value of 40 billion US dollars by 2027<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Some hope autonomous aircraft like MightyFly will soon deliver goods to shoppers<\/a>. Hunter Kosar, owner of US shipping company Twisted Nail Broker Services, noted a niche hybrid-electric, vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) autonomous aircraft could focus on transporting time-sensitive supplies like organs. \u201cOrgans are light, expensive and needed fast. Healthcare would pay a lot to receive a heart for transplant in 90 minutes instead of 4 hours.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"

Drone delivering transplant organs to Toronto hospital for transplant.
Photo: Jason van Bruggen<\/p><\/div>\n

In 2019, Zipline crafted a fleet of drones to carry medical supplies to Ghana\u2019s remote areas<\/a>. In 2021, UPS Flight Forward achieved a US first by drone-delivering COVID-19 vaccines in North Carolina<\/a>.<\/p>\n

To healthcare specialists, drones are an obvious next step for delivering organs beyond the usual helicopter or plane.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s common sense to use drones. Why use a plane to deliver something that weighs 2.2 kilograms (4.9 pounds)?<\/p>\n

Dr. Shaf Keshavjee, Director, Toronto Lung Transplant Program<\/p><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n

In 2020 drone start-up MissionGO Unmanned Systems\u2019 medical cargo branch partnered with Nevada Donor Network to successfully deliver kidneys and corneas. The 10-mile (16 km) kidney delivery was the longest organ delivery flight in drone history.<\/p>\n