Research: Drone transportation of blood products

Drones are small civilian unmanned aerial vehicles. Researchers at Johns Hopkins Hospital USA studied the impact of drone transport on blood products. Leukoreduced red blood cell (RBC) units and apheresis platelet (PLT) units, as well as unthawed plasma units frozen within 24 hours of collection (FP24), were placed in a cooler, attached to the drone, and flown for up to 26.5 minutes with temperature logging.
The researchers found no evidence of RBC hemolysis; no significant changes in PLT count or pH or mean PLT volumes and no changes in the FP24 bubbles. The temperature of all units was maintained during transport and flight. An article about the research is published in Transfusion.
Click here for an abstract of the article.
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