Ability of antimyosin scintigraphy monitoring to exclude acute rejection during the first year after heart transplantation.

BACKGROUND

Antimyosin Fab fragment has been shown to bind to myosin leaked from necrotic cardiac cells but not to myosin in undamaged cells. The purpose of this investigation was to evaluate indium 111-antimyosin Fab fragment scintigraphy as a noninvasive technique in the diagnosis of acute rejection after heart transplantation. Simultaneous endomyocardial biopsy served as the gold standard.

METHODS

Twenty-two patients had scintigraphic studies at weeks 3 to 4, 6, 10, 26, and 52, but the next 16 patients underwent scintigraphy more often, that is, at all scheduled biopsies performed from week 3 to week 26 after transplantation. From analysis of the first 70 studies, an interstudy decrease in the patient's heart-to-lung ratio was classified as normal, that is, no rejection, whereas an unchanged or increased heart-to-lung ratio was considered pathologic.

RESULTS

By use of this definition of negative and positive scintigraphic results, prospective analysis of 88 conclusive, consecutive studies showed 6 true- and 31 false-positive studies (prevalence of rejection 8%), giving a low predictive value of a pathologic change in heart-to-lung ratio. Of the 51 studies with decreasing heart-to-lung ratio only 1 was a false negative, giving a predictive value of a negative study of 98% (95% confidence limits 90% to 100%).

CONCLUSIONS

In conclusion, antimyosin scintigraphy is a promising noninvasive technique in the routine surveillance of acute heart rejection. Because of many false-positive results in the studies, biopsy should be used as a control for a pathologic heart-to-lung ratio.