Myocardial scintigraphy with 99mTc-pyrophosphate in patients with unstable angina pectoris

A total of 400 patients, aged 25-82 years, admitted to the Coronary Care Unit due to clinical suspicion of acute myocardial infarction, were examined with 10 mCi 99mTc labelled to pyrophosphate. The examinations were carried out 4-120 hours post onset of symptoms, with a mobile gamma camera. Scintigrams were evaluated with regard to presence, localization and intensity of an uptake. Among 249 patients with a verified acute myocardial infarction, uptake was found in 237. Sixty-two of 85 patients with unstable angina showed a diffuse uptake with low intensity. Scintigraphy could not be used as a prognostic index of which patients would later develop an infarct. However, the scintigraphic pattern was useful as an aid in the differential diagnosis between acute myocardial infarction and unstable angina.