Estimation of Acute Infarct Size In Vivo

The interest in calculating acute infarct mass following occlusion of a coronary artery originates mainly from two sources: 1. Acute infarct mass is related not only to the short-term (hospital) prognosis, but also to the long-term course, since pump failure and severe cardiac arrhythmias develop, depending on the size of the infarction [1, 2]. 2. The quantification of an acute infarction may offer the possibility to evaluate the effect of therapeutic measures like thrombolysis, angioplasty, aortocoro-nary bypass surgery, or others.