Residual pathologic changes and 99mtechnetium pyrophosphate uptake following coxsackievirus B3 perimyocarditis in mice.

The myocardial uptake of technetium-99m pyrophosphate (99mTc-PYP) in perimyocarditis induced by coxsackievirus B3 in BALB/c mice was studied on 3rd--90th day after the inoculation. 99mTc-PYP uptake ratio, measured by the ratio of cpm/gm for the heart to cpm/gm for the skull, began to increase five days after virus inoculation and reached a maximum on the seventh day. After the 14th day, 99mTc-PYP ratio began to decrease, however, on the 90th day, a high 99mTc-PYP uptake was shown in mice with severe perimyocardial fibrosis and calcification. The present findings may provide a futher basis upon which 99mTc-PYP imaging may be applied to viral perimyocarditis in humans.