New research suggests the technology could be used to increase out-of-hospital access to life-saving devices.
Drones could help cut the time it takes to get a defibrillator to people experiencing cardiac arrests when not in hospital, researchers have said.
In the UK alone, there are more than 30,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests a year where emergency medical services attempt to resuscitate the individual, according to the British Heart Foundation. Fewer than one in 10 people survive such an event, and some who do are left with neurological problems.
To explore the issue, the team analysed the number and place of 28,349 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests that occurred between 2011 and 2024 in administrative areas within the Greater Paris area.
The team found an extra 910 fixed AEDs would be needed for 84.5% of the recorded cardiac arrest cases to have been within 500 metres of an AED, while 1,712 extra fixed AEDs would be needed for 100% coverage.
“In France, only 8% of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest patients benefit from the application of a public AED before the arrival of the [emergency services],” he said, noting one factor is that a large proportion of AEDs are inaccessible, for example because they are housed in enclosed private spaces that are not open at all times.
Minka noted that in a scenario involving 200 drone bases, 871 existing fixed AED sites and four more fixed AED sites, drone delivery reached all of the cardiac arrest cases covered by the model within five minutes.