Accumulation of technetium-99m pyrophosphate in experimental infarctions in the rat

Cardiac accumulation patterns of pyrophosphate labelled with techetium-99m (TcPyP) in rats one hour to 7 days after coronary artery ligation were studied by light microscopy, myocardial scintigraphy, imaging the isolated heart and by direct measurement of tissue activity. Results suggest that myocardial cells taking up TcPyP are irreversibly damaged and that the disappearance of TcPyP uptake coincides with the removal of necrotic cells by phagocytes.