SRI/SURGICAL EXPRESS INC. /Tampa, Florida No, They're Not Sexy, They Just Sell -- A Lot.(THE NEW AMERICA)

Byline: Gloria Lau

It seems like every time you open a newspaper or turn on the TV, you hear about a new medical device that'll keep you alive another decade or so.

First it was the pacemaker, which speeds up slow-beating hearts. Then came the defibrillator, which slows down fast-beating hearts.

Then, in July, surgeons implanted the first self-contained artificial heart into the body of a man doctors said would otherwise have died within a month.

But all these sexy -- and pricey -- medical devices aren't the only keys to good medical care. The backbone of surgery includes the humdrum: gowns that protect surgeons from splattering blood, metal trays that hold instruments during procedures -- even the blue drapes that cover patients' bodies during surgery.

That's what SRI/Surgical Express Inc. specializes in -- the routine items.

The firm effectively operates a glorified cleaning service. SRI, formerly called Sterile Recoveries Inc., picks up the used gowns and other items, cleans and prepackages them, then drops them off at hospitals daily.