Utahns blaze path in bionic body parts

Kenny Whitten can run a bulldozer and a backhoe. He cares for the cows on his land in Duncan, Okla., and when he has spare time, he likes to go fishing, hunting and skiing.

He's a good carpenter, a hard worker, a dedicated dad and grandpa.

Sometimes he seems like Superman. He can pluck a bee from the air and squish it without wincing. His hands are unbelievably strong. But he can't tuck in his own shirt. It clings to him and comes right back out of the waistband of his jeans.

His left arm is artificial from above the elbow, the right from just below, the result of a serious electrical accident when he was working for a power company. He had climbed a pole and was helping move a line when a short a mile away sent a fireball down that line to him. He was 26, father of three very young children.

He comes from the Midwest, but his arms came from Utah, part of the state's long history of innovation in the field of bionics, man-made replacements for body parts that have failed.

Think artificial arm. Artificial heart. Artificial vision. Then think beyond that. Utah researchers have been designing, redesigning, perfecting and improving artificial body parts for decades. And they plan to do it until there's nothing left to do.

Utah has been home to bioengineering efforts dating back to the 1950s. And no single institution has been more involved than the University of Utah, which has put its imprint on much of the work being done worldwide, working closely with scientists both locally and around the globe.

Some of the work has already improved lives. In other cases, it's just beginning to hold real promise.

The beat goes on

Four years ago, Reid Clark was dying of heart failure. One of the founders of Novell, the once active, adventurous man had been grounded by his failing heart.

Dr. James W. Long implanted a Thoratec HeartMate left ventricular assist device (LVAD) as part of a clinical trial to see if a patient like Clark, too old to be eligible for a human heart transplant, could survive instead with the LVAD. Younger patients were already using it with the Food and Drug Administration's approval as a bridge to transplant.

The LVAD takes over the pumping function of the heart's left ventricle. It's implanted in the abdomen and connected to the heart, powered by a portable external battery carried in a fanny pack.

A little girl, Mikayla George, 10, of Herriman, spent six weeks on a biventricular assist device before receiving a heart transplant. The device itself is the equivalent of a total artificial heart. Its two small pumps pump at different rates to accommodate the needs of the two ventricles.

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