The devices are both similar and different. And if you traced back the innovation that created them, you'd find they both had some roots in the artificial organ for which Utah is most famous, the artificial heart, implanted in Seattle dentist Barney Clark in 1982.

The entire world watched, and you'd have had to live on the moon not to have heard of the University of Utah, where the technology was developed, or University Hospital, where the operation took place. It was a stunning medical first.

Barney Clark lived 112 days. Other hearts have been developed since the Jarvik 7 and, indeed, there were a number of lesser-known versions before the Jarvik-7. It was tradition that the person making significant design improvements or changes place his name on the device. Dr. Robert Jarvik, whose name adorned the artificial heart placed in Barney Clark's chest, left Utah not long after and has gone on to different heart designs.

Jarvik and other U. researchers designed the heart in the artificial organ program, led by another pioneer in salvaging body parts. Dr. Willem J. Kolff invented the first dialysis machine in Holland during World War II.

The ventricular-assist devices and other heart helpers that have been developed in the 21 years since that first artificial heart implant are descendants of that early heart technology.

"Utah has deep roots and contributed immensely to the early stages of the development of artificial heart technology," said Long, program director of LDS Hospital's Artificial Heart Program.

Looking back over two decades, though, Long said, "The launching as a permanent therapy in 1982 for Barney Clark was premature. Neither the technology nor the field was ready for this."

But it had to start somewhere.

"It has taken 20 years, improvement and better understanding on how to manage these patients to really get to a successful implementation of the technology. Only in the last decade have we been able to establish evidence it's an effective therapy."

The current LVAD technology keeps people who would otherwise die alive and provides a high quality of life. But it is, itself, terminal. Its parts wear out and it has to be replaced after a few years.

Companies, including one in Utah, are working on a next-generation solution. The Utah-designed HeartQuest device is nearing its final phase of preclinical trial testing. Within a decade, Long hopes the technology will be available in the operating room.