Quantitative analysis of acute myocardial infarction using single photon emission computed tomography using technetium-99m pyrophosphate.

The usefulness of single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) using technetium-99m pyrophosphate (99mTc-PPi) was evaluated in 15 patients with acute myocardial infarction. SPECT was performed with a rotating gamma camera after conventional planar images were made. Infarct size was measured from transaxial images of myocardial pyrophosphate uptakes. In each slice, the boundary was defined by subtracting 70 percent of the maximal counts and the number of voxels automatically counted. This subtraction rate was determined by phantom study and by comparing SPECT using 99mTc-PPi with thallium-201-gated myocardial scintigraphy (201Tl gated SPECT). The planar images showed diffuse uptakes in two of the 15 patients, and in these cases it was difficult to detect the infarct site. In contrast, SPECT images clearly imaged the infarct site consistent with the electrocardiographic findings, and they were definitely separated from the uptakes in the bones in all cases. Infarct size, ranging from 3.4 ml to 78.3 ml, correlated well with cumulative creatine kinase release (r = 0.84, p less than 0.01, y = 772x + 13900). Correlation of infarct size with peak serum creatine kinase level was also significant (r = 0.66, p less than 0.01, y = 10.6x + 693). In conclusion, SPECT with 99mTc-PPi is a useful means of investigating the spatial distribution of pyrophosphate uptake and of evaluating the size of myocardial infarction.