Abstract
Background: Organ transportation between hospitals has many challenges since the harvested organ needs to be transplanted to the recipient within an optimal time frame. It is important to transfer the organ from the donor to the recipient site quickly and professionally. Aim: The aim of this research is to investigate whether the transportation of donated hearts by drones is more efficient than transportation using road-bound vehicles. Methods: A simulation using MatLab software was performed to calculate the heart transportation time between three different hospitals in Mexico City by road-bound vehicles and by drones. This simulation was performed to demonstrate how congestion and traffic in Mexico City prevent healthy hearts from being transplanted to patients on time. The 24-hour period was divided into four 5-hour periods and these were chosen to be: Period 1 (22:00-03:00), Period 2 (04:00-09:00), Period 3 (10:00-15:00) and Period 4 (16:00-21:00). Results: The time it took to travel between the hospitals by car within each of the 5-hour periods was calculated. It was observed that, in period 2, a high volume of traffic was present causing road-bound vehicles to take a longer time to deliver hearts to hospitals. All hospitals were within reach of each other if the hearts were to be transported by drone and the delivery time by drone in all cases was less than 1.88 hours, which is the optimum time for the harvested heart to be transported without risk from the donor to the recipient. Conclusion: Using drones will increase the safety of transplants, reduce the heart transplantation waiting list and eventually, heart transplantation may be possible in different areas of the city at rush hour times.
Highlights
Heart transplantation is the gold standard in the treatment of patients with end-stage heart failure
Using drones will increase the safety of transplants, reduce the heart transplantation waiting list and eventually, heart transplantation may be possible in different areas of the city at rush hour times
The following figures show the differences in transportation times between different combinations of two hospitals using drones or road-bound vehicles
Summary
Heart transplantation is the gold standard in the treatment of patients with end-stage heart failure. Even though there have been great advances in technology within the cardiac field, treatment options such as mechanical devices or medical therapy have not been able to provide long-term results which are as good as heart transplantation. Heart transplantation is,In organ transplantation, it is important that the organ should be received by a patient who is the best possible match. There are specific criteria including the medical urgency for the recipient, the degree of immune system match between donor and recipient, and whether the recipient is a child or an adult [2]. Organ transportation between hospitals has many challenges since the harvested organ needs to be transplanted to the recipient within an optimal time frame. It is important to transfer the organ from the donor to the recipient site quickly and professionally
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