• Joseph R Scalea, Tony Pucciarella, Tara Talaie, Stephen Restaino, Cinthia Beskow Drachenberg, Charlie Alexander, Talal Al Qaoud, Rolf N Barth, Norman M Wereley, and Matthew Scassero.
• University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland.
• Ann. Surg. 2021 Sep 1; 274 (3): e282-e288.

ObjectiveTo understand and overcome the challenges associated with moving life-urgent payloads using unmanned aircraft.Background DataOrgan transportation has not been substantially innovated in the last 60 years. Unmanned aircraft systems (UAS; ie, drones) have the potential to reduce system inefficiencies and improve access to transplantation. We sought to determine if UASs could successfully be integrated into the current system of organ delivery.MethodsA multi-disciplinary team was convened to design and build an unmanned aircraft to autonomously carry a human organ. A kidney transplant recipient was enrolled to receive a drone-shipped kidney.ResultsA uniquely designed organ drone was built. The aircraft was flown 44 times (total of 7.38 hours). Three experimental missions were then flown in Baltimore City over 2.8 miles. For mission #1, no payload was carried. In mission #2, a payload of ice, saline, and blood tubes (3.8 kg, 8.4 lbs) was flown. In mission #3, a human kidney for transplant (4.4 kg, 9.7 lbs) was successfully flown by a UAS. The organ was transplanted into a 44-year-old female with a history of hypertensive nephrosclerosis and anuria on dialysis for 8 years. Between postoperative days (POD) 1 and 4, urine increased from 1.0 L to 3.6 L. Creatinine decreased starting on POD 3, to an inpatient nadir of 6.9 mg/dL. The patient was discharged on POD 4.ConclusionsHere, we completed the first successful delivery of a human organ using unmanned aircraft. This study brought together multidisciplinary resources to develop, build, and test the first organ drone system, through which we performed the first transplant of a drone transported kidney. These innovations could inform not just transplantation, but other areas of medicine requiring life-saving payload delivery as well.Copyright © 2019 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.

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