Stanford University has begun a program to test its student athletes for undetected heart problems, the kind that sometimes cause otherwise healthy 20-year-olds to have unexpected fatal heart attacks.

The football team was tested in September. Although the testing is voluntary, all members of the team participated.

Electrocardiograms, known as EKGs, have now been conducted on all 800 Stanford athletic team members, from swimmers to cross country team members.

Next, they will be tested using heart ultrasounds.

"This has been a dream for some time," said Dr. Victor Froelicher, Stanford professor of cardiology and sports medicine at the Palo Alto Veterans Affairs Health Care System.

Mandatory heart testing of high school and college athletes has been thought to be too costly and too controversial to attempt. But Stanford is conducting its testing without any additional costs except for equipment.

Italy is the only country to have mandatory heart tests for young athletes and recent research has shown that sudden death during competition has been virtually eliminated there since mandatory testing began in 1982.

"No one has refused testing," Floelicher said. "Coaches, trainers, athletes are all saying, 'Why haven't we done this before?'"

-- Don Kazak