Myocardial contusion: diagnostic value of cardiac scanning and echocardiography.

The increase of vehicular high-speed travel has resulted in an increase of blunt trauma, including contusion of the heart. Presently, the only available test to diagnose this form of cardiac injury is a 12-lead electrocardiogram. Some of the electrocardiographic findings, however, which have been considered indicative of myocardial contusion are nonspecific. We have previously shown that supravalvular aortic injection of microspheres of albumin labeled with radioactive technetium (/sup 99m/Tc) outlined the experimentally produced myocardial contusion in eight of the ten dogs. The present study was undertaken to define the value of less invasive techniques, such as echocardiography and cardiac scanning with radionuclides which could be administered intravenously in diagnosing myocardial contusion.