Radionuclide techniques for evaluation of patients with acute myocardial infarction

The management of patients with acute myocardial infarction has markedly changed over the past 10 years and presently has become actively interventional. Along with this development, the role of nuclear cardiology techniques also has changed from initially being used as a diagnostic tool for detecting myocardial infarction to now being an important adjunct in defining and quantifying the functional and prognostic consequences of acute ischemic cardiac injury. In acute myocardial infarction there are three phases during which radionuclide techniques may play important roles: (a) the acute phase, with potential for salvage of viable myocardium, (b) the subacute phase, during which a number of complications may occur, and (c) at predischarge for evaluation of the patient's functional status and risk stratification. In the authors' laboratory, approximately 30% of all nuclear cardiac studies are performed in the coronary care unit at the patient's bedside