Technetium-99m-pyrophosphate scintigraphy in patients with suspected acute myocardial infarction: Impact of interobserver variability

Technetium-99m-pyrophosphate (TcPYP) scintigraphy may have great value in patients with suspected acute myocardial infarction (AMI), but interobserver variability undoubtedly has adverse impact on predictive value. TcPYP scintigrams for 133 (80%) of 166 consecutive patients admitted for suspected AMI were interpreted independently by three experienced readers. Although there was complete agreement for 87 interpretations (65%), major discrepancies (i.e., at least one positive and one negative reading on the same scan) occurred for 28 scans (21%). To assess predictive accuracy, patients were categorized as follows: 36 had definite AMI manifest by new ECG Q waves and/or CK-MB evidence of AMI (group I), 56 were classified as possible AMI (group II), and 41 had AMI excluded (group III). Using only the definitive diagnostic categories (groups I and III), accuracy for each reader approximated 0.68, with no single reader being correct more often than any other.