Proof-of-concept drone flight delivers transplant lung to patient in Toronto

A team of researchers from Toronto General Hospital Research Institute, Unither Bioelectronics Inc., and Techna, University Health Network, has demonstrated the feasibility of using drones to carry human organs for transplantation to nearby locales. In a Focus piece, published in the journal Science Robotics, the researchers outline the factors that went into the groundbreaking event, and what it could mean for future patients around the world. As drone technology has become more reliable, engineers have begun to use them for more critical applications. In this instance, a drone carried a human lung donated by a deceased patient at one hospital in downtown Toronto, Canada, to another patient needing a new lung waiting in another hospital, also in downtown Toronto. The feasibility study was not the first to use a drone to carry human organs or medical supplies, but it is perhaps the most stringent. The effort was meant to test the use of drones for carrying donated organs on a regular basis.