Charlotte surgeons are building a better prosthetic hand.

• Author: Wood, Suzanne
• Position: SPONSORED SECTION

A shark cut short Tiffany Johnson's June trip to the Bahamas. She was snorkeling when it attacked, biting her right arm. Local emergency-room surgeons stabilized the wife and mother of three from Concord as best as they could before sending her to Charlotte, where two orthopedic surgeons tried to save her arm and hand. When they couldn't, they fitted her with the next best thing--a prosthetic that she can control with her mind.

Glenn Gaston and Bryan Loeffler practice with Charlotte-based OrthoCarolina Hand Center and OrthoCarolina Research Institute. They're improving their patients' quality of life with technology that was considered science fiction until recently. Their work with myoelectric hands, which use biological controls to operate mechanical pieces, is part of a movement to make prosthetic limbs stronger, more comfortable and intricately controlled.

Loeffler and Gaston's work began in the cadaver lab, where they tested a theory: What if the small muscles that move individual fingers could move the fingers on a prosthetic hand? After ensuring they could preserve enough blood supply and nerves to make their theory reality, the two surgeons collaborated with the Hanger Clinic, part of Austin, Texas-based prosthetics and orthopedics provider Hanger Inc., on how much bone to remove to ensure the prosthetic componentry maintained a normal hand length.

The two doctors made headlines last year when they fitted a patient with the world's first working myoelectric hand. The recipient was a young man who lost three fingers at the knuckle on one hand in an industrial accident in May 2016. They transferred muscle from the recovered fingers to the back of his hand and wrist, keeping the all-important nerves and blood vessels intact. The patient now uses those muscles to control his prosthetic fingers.

Gaston says it didn't take long for the motivated patient to be able to perform tasks with his new hand, such as pick a flower or hoist a 20-pound weight. Those actions would be awkward or impossible with conventional prosthetic hands. "He really inspired us," Loeffler says. "He was...