Does contrast-enhanced MRI demonstrate regional heterogeneity and correlate with scintigraphic defects in patients with acute myocardial infarction?
Contrast-enhanced MRI can characterize the regional heterogeneity of myocardial infarcts, differentiating between large non-reperfused and reperfused infarcts.
Large human infarcts, associated with prolonged obstruction of the infarct-related artery, are characterized by central dark zones surrounded by hyperenhanced regions on MRI. Conversely, reperfused infarcts with less regional dysfunction have uniform signal hyperenhancement. The MRI hyperenhanced segment correlates well with the fixed scintigraphic defect in patients with acute myocardial infarction.
Lima et al. (Fri,) studied this question.