Noninvasive visualization of acute myocardial infarction in man with thallium-201

Myocardial imaging using 201Tl was performed in 10 patients with supposedly normal myocardial perfusion and in 11 patients with acute myocardial infarction. In all patients with acute myocardial infarction the scintiscan showed an area with diminished radioactivity at the site corresponding the electrocardiographic localization of the infarction. 210Tl seems to be of diagnostic value for recognizing acute myocardial infarction in the very first hours after its onset and for visualizing infarction in patients in whom pre-existing electrocardiographic abnormalities prevent its diagnosis and/or localization.