Bioingeniøren (Oct 2023)
Effect of drone transport on biochemistry and hematology parameters in blood samples
Abstract
Purpose: To compare practical routines and the quality of blood sample transport by drone and car. Method: Double sets of blood samples were taken from 22 healthy adult volunteers (one EDTA tube and one gel tube). The serum samples were centrifuged before transport. One set of blood samples was sent by car from Sunnaas hospital to Blakstad hospital and the other set was sent by drone. From Blakstad hospital, both boxes were transported to Bærum hospital for analysis immediately after arrival. Analytes that were analyzed were hematology parameters, electrolytes, liver enzymes, glucose and triglycerides. Results: There was good agreement both in average analysis result and standard deviation for samples transported by courier and by drone. The total analysis variation for the individual analytes is significantly higher than the percentage difference between the two transport methods, which further indicates that there were no clinically significant differences. Conclusion: The temperature in the boxes during the drone transport was within the recommended temperature, but was slightly lower than in boxes transported by car. The analysis results showed good agreement and little variation between samples transported by car and drone. These are the first results from actual transport of blood samples by drone in Norway, and an important step in determining whether laboratory tests for the most common analytes used in the healthcare system are also reliable in the case of drone transport.
