
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, July 6, 1994                   TAG: 9407110203
SECTION: NATL/INTL                    PAGE: A-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: CHICAGO                                 LENGTH: Short

STROKES TIED TO THICKENED HEART WALLS

Older people who have a thickening of the wall around the heart's main pumping chamber are nearly three times as likely as people with normal hearts to suffer a stroke, a study found.

The thickening can be detected by echocardiography, but because of the $400-to-$500 cost and because the exact relationship between the thickening and strokes is not clear, the ultrasound procedure should not be used routinely as a stroke-risk detector, doctors say.

Memo: NOTE: See microfilm for text.

by CNB