Assessment of acute myocardial infarction by nuclear imaging techniques.

In recent years, nuclear cardiology techniques have been successfully applied in patients with acute myocardial infarction. These scintigraphic measurements have provided important diagnostic, therapeutic, and prognostic information based on the extent of myocardial damage and the functional reserve of the left ventricle. In particular, in the thrombolytic era, myocardial perfusion imaging and radionuclide angiography have been shown to be valuable methods for studying the effects of reperfusion on the extent of myocardial damage. Nuclear magnetic resonance imaging, preferably with contrast enhancement, is one of the newly developed nuclear imaging techniques that have probably the greatest potential in accurately delineating myocardial infarct size and in evaluating left ventricular function. Radionuclide procedures, on the other hand, employ more biologically oriented tracers and are therefore capable of monitoring biochemical changes in the course of acute myocardial infarction.