Created A Hypothetical Network Across Ontario To Carry Defibrillators To Heart Attack Victims

Researchers at the University of Toronto have come up with an innovative way to help people suffering cardiac arrest have a better chance at survival ... at least in theory.

They have put on the drawing board a hypothetical network of drones that could assist paramedics assisting someone suffering a heart attack. The drone would carry a portable Automatic External Defibrillator (AED) to the scene.

The Toronto Star reports that U of T researcher Timothy Chan, an associate professor of industrial engineering who is also the director of the Center for Healthcare Engineering, found that while there are many defibrillators available for public use in Ontario, 80 percent of heart attacks happen in private homes. He also found that many of the AEDs are in public areas that are not open in the evening when most heart attacks occur.

Chan was inspired by a similar program he saw in Europe. Chan and his team looked at cardiac arrest data from eight large geographic regions from Toronto to Muskoka and estimated that a fleet of 100 drones stationed at 80 bases would be needed to cover those 10,000 square kilometers, or about 3,860 square miles. That number of aircraft would theoretically mean that the drone would get to a cardiac arrest patient faster than an ambulance 90 percent of the time.

Chan told the paper that he thinks the use of drones to carry AEDs is inevitable, as soon as five to 10 years in the future. But he and his team are still looking for funding to take the idea off the drawing board and get it into the air. The issues still to be resolved include how the defibrillators would be charged and maintained, and how they would handle adverse weather conditions while being transported.

FMI: www.engineering.utoronto.ca