Radioisotopic Assessment of Myocardial Infarction

Assessment of acute myocardial necrosis in the patient with a suggestive clinical history is an important and sometimes challenging clinical problem. Immediate and long-term management often depends critically on whether or not the patient is thought to have sustained irreversible loss of myocardium. Furthermore, several promising therapeutic approaches have recently been introduced that may attenuate or eliminate permanent myocardial damage resulting from an ischemic episode.1 Evaluation of any of these therapeutic measures ultimately requires quantitative assessment of myocardial necrosis in relation to the antecedent ischemic insult. At present, myocardial necrosis is quantitated by electrocardiographic and enzymatic evidence of myocardial damage. . . .