Prediction of myocardium at risk: Clinical significance during acute infarction and in evaluating subsequent prognosis

Noninvasive cardiac imaging is currently used to assess myocardial salvage following reperfusion therapy for acute myocardial infarction and to stratify patients by risk for the development of subsequent cardiac events. The latter is most important when deciding who might benefit from coronary angiography and revascularization. This article summarizes the roles of radionuclide angiography, two-dimensional echocardiography, and myocardial perfusion imaging in the clinical assessment and management of patients with acute myocardial infarction.