Drones could help decrease the time it takes to get a defibrillator to people experiencing cardiac arrests outside of hospital settings, according to researchers. This new work suggests that the technology could enhance access to these life-saving devices.
In the UK, over 30,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests occur annually where emergency medical services attempt resuscitation, with fewer than one in 10 surviving, as per the British Heart Foundation. Rapid access to treatment, including CPR and defibrillation, is crucial, as every minute without it reduces survival chances by 10%.
A team led by Matthieu Heidet, a professor of emergency medicine, and Dr Hillary Minka, an emergency physician, analysed 28,349 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests in the Greater Paris area between 2011 and 2024. They found that only 30% of these cases were within 500 metres of a fixed automated external defibrillator (AED).
The study suggests that using drones could significantly improve coverage. With 100 drone bases and 26 additional fixed AEDs, over 97% of cardiac arrest cases could be within 500 metres of a fixed AED or approximately 4km of a drone base. A scenario with 200 drone bases and just four extra AEDs could cover more than 99% of cases.
The research also indicated that while only 30-40% of cardiac arrest cases had access to current fixed AEDs within a five-minute round trip using ground transport, a model with 200 drone bases, 871 existing fixed AED sites, and four additional fixed AED sites showed drone delivery reaching almost all covered cases within five minutes. This study has not yet been peer-reviewed and will be presented at the European Emergency Medicine Congress in Paris.