Why is it important to quantify myocardial infarction scar tissue (scar tissue due to a heart attack)?
Myocardial infraction results in lack of or loss of blood flow to an area of the heart. This leaves areas of dead heart muscle, the scar tissue you speak of. This scar tissue may cause an interruption of the electrical signals that cause heart muscle contractions or the signal may be routed around the scar tissue and arrive at the target muscle out of sequence. This can result in a heart arrhythmia of some type. If enough scar tissue is formed then a certain area of heart muscle ceases to function. The scar tissue will not conduct the electrical signals nearly as well as living tissue would. The amount of scarring becomes critical to the functioning of the heart and can determine if the person lives or dies.
