“Drones delivered an automated external defibrillator (AED) just outside the door of residential homes, where most cardiac arrests occur, as well during the first minutes of a cardiac arrest,” said study author Dr Sofia Schierbeck of Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden.
“When a drone arrived before the ambulance it was nearly two minutes quicker. As drone technology improves it should be possible to increase the number of patients and the time benefits.”
Cardiac arrest is a life-threatening condition and is often fatal without resuscitation and an electric shock from an AED.
Each minute without treatment decreases the chance of survival and it is estimated that cardiac arrest causes one in five deaths in industrialised countries. Survival has not increased in recent years and the mortality rate is around 90 per cent.
“Emergency medical service response times are getting longer and people rarely have an AED at home,” Dr. Schierbeck said...