[Long-time follow-up scintigraphy with 99m Tc pyrophosphate after myocardial infarction (author's transl)]

Follow-up scintigraphies with 99m Tc pyrophosphate 3--4 weeks and 6--12 months after a myocardial infarction revealed the possibility of persisting a myocardial tracer activity in cases in which reinfarction can be excluded. There was a relation between the persistence of the tracer activity and the pressure in the pulmonary artery under stress conditions. The diastolic pulmonary pressure was regular in those patients whose scintiphotos showed no tracer activity in the myocardial area in the follow-up scintigraphy. Patients who showed a persisting tracer activity in the infarcted areal had elevated pressures in the pulmonary artery under stress conditions or even at rest. The elevation of the diastolic pulmonary pressure is a sign of an elevated enddiastolic pressure in the left ventricle caused by a limited left ventricular function. This could be proved by left ventriculography. The results in follow-up scintigraphy 3--4 weeks and 6--12 months after the infarction were quite similar. Therefore we believe that the results of a follow-up scintigraphy 3--4 weeks after an infarction allows to draw prognostic inferences about the further course of the disease.