For the first time in the history of medicine, a drone played a crucial role in saving a life during a sudden cardiac arrest. A unique global achievement occurred in Trollhattan, Sweden, in December 2021, when the autonomous drone Everdrone delivered a defibrillator that helped save the life of a 71-year-old man. “This is a truly revolutionary technology that needs to be implemented everywhere,” says the patient, who has now fully recovered.
Thanks to the combination of an immediate emergency call, Dr. Mustafa Ali’s quick actions and the rapid delivery of an automatic external defibrillator (AND), life-saving measures could be taken before the ambulance arrived, and his life was saved. The time from the alarm signal to the delivery of the ANDES to the scene was just over three minutes.
For Dr. Mustafa Ali, this experience was just as pleasant, despite the seriousness of the situation.
“I was driving to work at a local hospital when I looked out of the car window and saw a man passed out in the driveway,” says Dr. Ali. “I immediately realized that something was wrong and rushed to help. The man had no pulse, so I started CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation), asking another passerby to call 112 (the emergency number in Sweden). Literally a few minutes later I saw something flying over my head. It was a drone with a defibrillator!”
The drone delivery system in the Westra-Getaland region is developed and operated by Everdrone, the world’s leading company in the field of autonomous drone solutions. The solution has been developed and is constantly being improved in close cooperation with the Center for Resuscitation Science of the Karolinska Institute, SOS Alarm and the region of Vestra Götaland. Operations also support Vinnova, Swelife and Medtech4Health.
“This is a great real-life example of how advanced technologies of unmanned aerial vehicles of Everyone, fully integrated with the dispatching emergency service, can minimize the time of access to the rescue equipment,” says Mats Sallstrom, CEO of Everdrone.