Clinical Factors Associated With Positive ^{99 m}Tc-Pyrophosphate Scintigraphy Beyond Kumamoto Criteria in a Real-World...

The Kumamoto criteria are proposed for predicting ^{99 m}Tc-pyrophosphate (PYP) uptake, but real-world performance is uncertain.

We reviewed 102 consecutive patients who underwent PYP scintigraphy; grade ≥2 was positive, and grade 1 equivocal/negative. Of them, 15 were positive; 11 had scores 0-1 yet were positive, while 8 scored 2 and yet were negative. Adding age, sex, PR interval, and atrial fibrillation improved the area under the curve (AUC) from 0.598 to 0.866; excluding sex yielded AUC 0.842.

Using the Kumamoto criteria alone showed limited discrimination; combining routine variables may help select patients for PYP scintigraphy.