The St. Petersburg woman had an extraordinarily strong heart, and some ``external force'' caused it to temporarily stop working years before her death, Medical Examiner Jon Thogmartin concluded Wednesday.

The autopsy findings largely support the position of her husband, Michael Schiavo, and undercut allegations by her parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, that their son-in- law caused her condition.

However, Thogmartin's exhaustive report, which includes input from board-certified experts on brain and heart pathology, is not likely to settle a family feud that has drawn worldwide attention.

``It seemed like he did a pretty thorough investigation,'' Terri Schiavo's brother, Bobby Schindler, said after watching Thogmartin deliver his findings. ``But it only raises more questions. It eliminated bulimia. It eliminated heart attack. But Terri and [Michael Schiavo] had been fighting all day.''

Bobby Schindler said his family still thinks Michael Schiavo caused Terri Schiavo's collapse from heart failure on Feb. 25, 1990, at age 26.

Terri Schiavo died March 31, 13 days after a feeding tube that had kept her alive for more than 15 years was removed on court order.

For the previous seven years, Michael Schiavo had battled his in-laws to gain that permission, contending his wife never would have wanted to be kept alive for so long with no hope of recovery from what her doctors diagnosed as a persistent vegetative state.

The autopsy report, in which Thogmartin found no evidence of physical trauma, drug use or poisoning, ```didn't add any comfort for our family,'' Schindler said.

``We still think Terri could have been helped'' with therapy, he said.

Michael Schiavo is pleased that Thogmartin's findings ruled out a litany of allegations of foul play that the Schindlers and their supporters have made since the feud began in the early 1990s, his attorney said Wednesday.

``For years and years, the courts have found no abuse of Terri, ... and that's what the medical examiner found,'' attorney George Felos said.

`Can't Blame Them For Trying'

Thogmartin, the medical examiner for Pasco and Pinellas counties, and Polk County- based Medical Examiner Stephen Nelson, an expert in neuropathology, concluded the condition of Terri Schiavo's brain was ``very consistent'' with the diagnosis of her being in a persistent vegetative state with no awareness of her surroundings.

One of the few surprises Thogmartin reported finding, that Terri Schiavo was blind, undercuts the Schindlers' contention that videos posted on the Internet show their daughter was able to react to her mother and could follow the arc of a balloon waved over her bed, Felos said.

At an hourlong morning news conference, Thogmartin and Nelson said they could understand how family members could think someone in Terri Schiavo's condition was reacting to them during bedside visits.

Even the medical experts at first were optimistic about her prognosis, Thogmartin said.

``It is very sad to look at the whole spectrum of her [medical] records and watch that optimism fall,'' he said. ``You can't blame them for trying.''

Nelson said there is no way for an autopsy to confirm a diagnosis that a living person was in a persistent vegetative state rather than in a minimally conscious state, as the Schindler family asserts.

However, ``there is nothing in her autopsy report ... that is inconsistent with persistent vegetative state,'' Nelson said. ``She was very definitely blind and would not be able to register any type of thought or cognitive awareness of what was going on.''

Schiavo's brain weighed less than half of what it should have in a normal state, and significantly less than that of Karen Ann Quinlan, who survived 10 years in a coma in what was a highly publicized dispute in the 1970s over removal of life support, Nelson said.

Thogmartin said he found no evidence that an eating disorder caused Schiavo's potassium levels to fall, leading to her heart failure.

There are a number of explanations for the low potassium level found after the woman's collapse, Thogmartin said.

Her Heart Was Strong

Her heart was so strong that doctors were able to get it working again after she spent more than an hour with no measurable blood pressure, which resulted in massive brain damage, he said.

It was so strong, in fact, that it kept beating for 13 days after her feeding tube was removed and she became dehydrated, Thogmartin said.

Medical records and interviews with friends and family showed it was unlikely Terri Schiavo was responsible for her illness, Thogmartin said. There was no evidence of drug abuse, bulimia or diet pills. The fact that she had lost 100 pounds or more as a teenager and was adamant about not gaining the weight back is not abnormal, he said.

``According to everyone, she was a very clean-living young woman,'' and no one on either side of the dispute had anything negative to report about her, Thogmartin said.

Absent further information, nothing can be ruled out as an underlying cause of death ``other than overt trauma,'' Thogmartin said.

``Whatever caused that problem was not in her heart,'' Thogmartin said of her collapse. ``It was an external problem that caused it.''

Michael Schiavo was unavailable for comment Wednesday. Felos declined to comment on what, if any, plans his client has for her cremated remains.

Reporter David Sommer can be reached at (727) 799- 7413.