Detection and Sizing of Acute Myocardial Infarcts with^99mTc (Sn) Tetracycline

Abstract

Myocardial scintigraphy was performed in 28 patients with the technetium chelate, 99mTc (Sn) tetracycline. Acutely infarcted myocardium was visualized as an area of increased radioactivity. All 14 patients with definite clinical evidence of acute myocardial infarction and two of five patients in whom the evidence of infarction was equivocal had abnormal scintigrams. Scintigraphy gave normal results in nine patients in whom an acute lesion failed to evolve. Peak activity occurred one to three days after the clinical onset of chest pain. Old infarcts did not concentrate 99mTc (Sn) tetracycline. (N Engl J Med 291:159–163, 1974)