Antimyosin scintigraphy in cardiovascular diseases.

Antimyosin antibody is highly specific for in vivo delineation of acute myocyte necrosis as only irreversibly damaged myocytes with sarcolemmal disruption will enable access of the administered antibody to the once-privileged intracellular antigen-myosin. Thus, antimyosin radiolabeled with either indium-111 or technitium-99m has been used for the noninvasive diagnosis of myocyte necrosis associated with acute myocardial infarction, myocarditis, heart transplant rejection, as well as in other cardiac disorders such as rheumatic carditis or adriamycin cardiotoxicity. The sensitivity of antimyosin scintigraphy for these disorders has been reported to be 90%-100%. The final verdict on its full potential must await extensive clinical use.