One-day kinetics of myocardial engraftment after intracoronary injection of bone marrow mononuclear cells in patients with acute and chronic myocardial infarction.

Abstract

To investigate the kinetics of myocardial engraftment of bone marrow-derived mononuclear cells (BMNCs) after intracoronary injection using 99mTc-d,l-hexamethylpropylene amine oxime (99mTc-HMPAO) nuclear imaging in patients with acute and chronic anterior myocardial infarction. Nuclear imaging-derived tracking of BMNCs at 2 and 20 h after injection in the left anterior descending (LAD) coronary artery. Academical cardiocentre. Five patients with acute (mean (SD) age 58 (11) years; ejection fraction range 33-45%) and five patients with chronic (mean (SD) age 50 (6) years; ejection fraction range 28-34%) anterior myocardial infarction. A total of 24.2 x 10(8)-57.0 x 10(8) BMNCs (20% labelled with 700-1000 MBq 99mTc-HMPAO) were injected in the LAD coronary artery. At 2 h after BMNC injection, myocardial activity was observed in all patients with acute (range 1.31-5.10%) and in all but one patient with chronic infarction (range 1.10-3.0%). At 20 h, myocardial engraftment was noted only in three patients with acute myocardial infarction, whereas no myocardial activity was noted in any patient with chronic infarction. Engraftment of BMNCs shows dynamic changes within the first 20 h after intracoronary injection. Persistent myocardial engraftment was noted only in a subset of patients with acute myocardial infarction.