[Myocardial 99mTc-pyrophosphate scintigraphy in acute heart infarct]

50 consecutive patients hospitalized because of suspected myocardial infarction were examined by 99mTc-pyrophosphate scintigraphy. The scans were interpreted blind by one of the authors. There were positive results in 17 of 21 patients with myocardial infarction (sensitivity 0.81). However, scintigraphy was also positive in 13 patients with no evidence of myocardial infarction as assessed by ECG and enzyme criteria (specificity 0.55). We conclude that, in our hospital, 99mTc-pyrophosphate myocardial scintigraphy did not contribute valuable information to the routine diagnosis of myocardial infarction.