Drones Have Now Been Used To Deliver Lungs For Medical Transplant

An anonymous reader quotes a report from ExtremeTech: The world's first drone delivery of lungs has gone down in history as a success. Unither Bioelectronique, a bioengineering firm focused on organ transportation, recently completed a "proof-of-concept" flight in which a pair of human lungs were shipped via drone to the transplant site in about six minutes. The lungs were flown from the Toronto Western Hospital to Toronto General Hospital, where Dr. Shaf Keshavjee, surgeon-in-chief of Canada's University Health Network, received the cargo at about 1 a.m. He needed the lungs for a transplant he was performing that very day on a male engineer who'd soon become the first transplant patient to receive his "new" lungs by drone.

Though the circumstances of the trip were urgent, the trip itself was 18 months in the making. Organs have been shipped by drone before, but lungs are particularly sensitive to environmental shifts during transport, with a majority of donated lungs rendered unusable by insufficient oxygenation. In order to make the trip worthwhile, engineers at Unither Bioelectronique had to design a lightweight carbon fiber shipping container that could withstand vibrations and in-flight changes in elevation and barometric pressure. Preparation involved practice flights and drop tests using simulation lung packages. The drone and its container counterpart were fitted with a parachute and an advanced GPS system, as the drone would fly through the air unmanned. "This innovation in the transportation of organs has the potential to significantly increase the transfer efficiency between donors and recipients, especially in congested urban areas," Unither Bioelectronique says of the trip on their website. "Through this project, we have established an important stepping stone for future organ delivery that ultimately will open the door for large-scale adoption of larger fully autonomous, electrically-powered, environmentally-friendly drones... for transplant across trans-continental distances."

Drone shmone

[dsgrntlxmply]

Gimme an F-16. I used to live and work near Moffett Field while it was still 24/7 Navy. I found the sounds of P-3 operations to be comforting. Occasionally something noisier would happen, and very late one night, it did. Not long after, I read a newspaper article saying that the governor had authorized a California Air National Guard F-16 to fly a transplant organ.

Re:

[ShanghaiBill]

The F-16 may deliver the organ to the city, but you still need a drone to get it from the airfield to the hospital.

Re:

[93 Escort Wagon]

Or a helicopter.

Re:Drone shmone

[ShanghaiBill]

Or a helicopter.

For what it costs to fly a helicopter for a few hours, you can buy a drone.

Re:Drone shmone

[dohzer]

Surely we can modify that guided missile technology to deliver organs straight into sick people's chests.

Re:

[BlacKSacrificE]

Smart organs!

I would love to see his take on the modern world. Gone but should never be forgotten.

Re:

[Samantha Wright]

The distance between TGH and TWH is less than an F-16's takeoff distance. You'll have to sit this one out.

Re:

[dohzer]

Those are only for the people who can't afford the authentic kind of organs.

Usually air goes through the lungs,

[delirious.net]

this time lungs go through the air.

Re:

[theshowmecanuck]

FTFY:
In Putin's Russia, lungs go through air.
(you still win, good one!)

What can't a drone do?

[AndyKron]

That's a breath of fresh air

Re: What problem is being addressed by this soluti

[PPH]

four to six hours

Big deal. Dominos pizza. 30 minutes. Or it's free.

Re:

[chas.williams]

Yeah, that's my point. The drone usage doesn't provide any benefit other than "via drone."

"I left my heart in San Francisco"

[Tablizer]

Now it will be literal. [youtube.com]

Awfully specific headline

[RightwingNutjob]

Drones Have Now Been Used To Deliver Lungs For Medical Transplant

What would a non-medical lung transplant entail, precisely?

Re:

[dsgrntlxmply]

Haggis and a fork.