Noninvasive quantitation of myocardial infarction with technetium 99m pyrophosphate.

We sought to quantitate infarct size using radioactive imaging techniques. Infarcts were created in closed chest dogs. Using a scintillation camera interfaced to a computer, infarct images were made in the anterior, left lateral, LAO, and RAO projections, 48 hours after infarction and 75 to 90 min following the intravenous injection of 15 mCi of Technetium 99m pyrophosphate (Tc-PYP). Images were computer enhanced and area was calibrated with a radioactive grid source of known dimensions. Image radioactivity was normalized for decay and dose corrected for body weight. Animals were sacrificed two hours following the injection Tc-PYP. Postmortem images were also computer enhanced and calibrated. Gross infarct area and weight were estimated and transmural biopsies were evaluated for Tc-PYP activity and analyzed for creatine phosphokinase (CPK) content. Contiguous biopsies were pathologically analyzed and graded. There was a negative correlation between tissue Tc-PYP activity and CPK content (r=0.89). Pathologic severity worsened with increased Tc-PYP activity and diminished CPK content. There was a good correlation between gross infarct area and image infarct area, both in vivo (r