Kidney specialists excited about first transplant successfully delivered by drone

SAN ANTONIO – The South Texas Renal Care Group weighed in on a historic accomplishment made in Baltimore, where a kidney transplant patient received their organ by drone transportation.

“I think that technology is evolving so fast, that it is bringing new innovation of what we are doing on daily basis,” said Dr. Reza Mizani, president of the South Texas Renal Care Group. “It is incredible.”

He said the biggest issue is organ transplant in Texas.

“Right now, there are approximately 60,000 patients on dialysis with kidney failure,” Mizani said. “Most are trying to get an organ for a permanent cure. Ten thousand to 11,000 patients are listed for kidney transplant, and the wait times for that continues to increase.”

Mizani said the median number to wait for an organ is 3.6 years, but the South Texas Renal Care Group sees patients waiting eight to 10 years. He said based on data they have collected, the time it takes to transport an organ plays a major role.

“If you have the human donor and it is in point A and you have to take it to point B, and say if you are in New York and in traffic, distance is about 20 miles, you have to get an ambulance to transport," he said.

Mizani said the time it takes an organ that is outside the body to recover again after transplant is critical. 

“If you have a deceased transplant, it could last you about eight to 10 years,” Mizani said. “But if it is a live donor kidney transplant, it could be up to 20 years. That is a difference of 10 years.”

He said having this drone in place could cut down on the number of resources required that the South Texas Renal Care Group currently uses.

“Currently, transport involves a lot of logistics,” Mizani said. “We have to arrange live humans, pilots, co-pilots, engineers and schedules and all of that. If we can get a drone to the roof of a hospital, put the organ in there, it is temperature control, it actually perfuses the organ while it is transporting and it doesn’t need anybody. It is autonomous. They are monitoring it online, of course.”

He said he hopes with more advanced drones, transplants will be able to be transported longer distances.

“One of the barriers being transportation, if that is solved, it is going to be more organs that perhaps were not being used for people who were far away from that donor,” Mizani said. “More of these innovations will lead to easier transportation but in the time that it takes and breaking some of the barriers that are currently not allowing the transplant to occur.”


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Japhanie Gray joined 10 News as an anchor in March 2022.