Cardiac BMIPP imaging in acute myocardial infarction

Fatty acid metabolism functions as a major energy-producing system under aerobic conditions, but it is impaired immediately after myocardial ischaemia. This imaging can provide intracellular information which cannot be obtained by angiographical, perfusional or functional analysis. 123I-BMIPP and perfusion imagings in patients with acute myocardial infarction have demonstrated three different correlations between myocardial perfusion and fatty acid metabolism: concordant defects of perfusion and BMIPP which represent scar or non-viable tissue; lower BMIPP uptake relative to perfusion (perfusion-BMIPP mismatch) which implicates metabolically damaged, often dysynergic, but viable myocardium; and equivalently normal uptakes of perfusion and BMIPP in completely salvaged myocardium. Identification of these perfusion-metabolism correlations contributes to the detection of ischaemia-related myocardial injury in viable and non-viable myocardium, to the prediction of post-ischaemic or post-interventional functional recovery and to the identification of patients who have myocardium at ischaemic risk. Further clinical investigations might reveal more clearly the pathophysiological and prognostic implications of cardiac BMIPP imaging in patients with acute myocardial infarction.