Nuclear magnetic resonance analysis of acute myocardial infarction in dogs: the effects of transient coronary ischemia of varying duration and reperfusion on spin lattice relaxation times.

The purposes of this study were to evaluate the effects of acute myocardial ischemia with reperfusion on T1 (spin-lattice) nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) relaxation times in a canine model and correlate these changes with bulk myocardial water content (%H2O). In 15 dogs the left anterior descending coronary artery was occluded for either 40 minutes (n = 5), 1 hour (n = 5), or 2 hours (n = 5). In 15 additional dogs, matched occlusion periods were followed by 3 hours of reperfusion. T1 of tissue from normal and ischemic myocardium was measured in vitro with a 2.5 kg NMR spectrometer. In the reperfusion animals, the 2-hour group showed significant increases in %H2O and T1 when the ischemic segment of myocardium was evaluated (both p less than 0.01). All but one animal in the 1-hour (reperfusion) group showed increases in both %H2O or T1 in the ischemic segment of myocardium when compared to control segments. The mean values from the ischemic myocardium in the 1-hour group were significantly higher than the values from the matched control segment for %H2O (p less than 0.05) and T1 (p less than 0.05). In the group undergoing 40 minutes of ischemia followed by 3 hours of reperfusion, neither %H2O nor T1 changed significantly. In the nonreperfused animals, neither T1 nor %H2O content increased significantly after 40 minutes. Significant increases were seen in the 1-hour (p less than 0.05) and 2-hour groups (without reperfusion) (p less than 0.01). In addition, the 2-hour occlusion followed by reperfusion animals had significantly greater T1 relaxation times and %H2O than control ischemic animals.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)