Determination of infarct size of acute myocardial infarction in dogs by magnetic resonance imaging and gadolinium-DTPA: comparison with indium-111 antimyosin imaging.

Acute myocardial infarctions were produced in nine dogs by ligation of the left anterior descending coronary artery. Twenty-four hours after ligation, 0.5 mM/kg of gadolinium (Gd)-DTPA was injected intravenously, followed by cardiectomy 30 min later. Indium-111 antimyosin was administered intravenously 6 hr before cardiectomy to compare the infarct size with Gd-DTPA contrast enhancement. Areas of Gd-DTPA contrast enhancement were closely correlated with those of indium-111 antimyosin uptake (r = .86), although the former showed slightly greater than the latter. Partial and complete enhancements were observed in three and six dogs, respectively. In the T1 and T2 maps, T1 relaxation times of the infarcted area showed greater T1 shortening compared with normal myocardium, whereas T2 relaxation times were not different between infarcted and normal myocardium. Thus, Gd-DTPA showed significant contrast enhancement of the infarcted area because of greater T1 shortening and the extent of Gd-DTPA contrast enhancement expressed the infarct size precisely.