Figure 4.
Left atrial hypometabolic scar: three-dimensional blackout map reconstructions of left atrial metabolic uptake compared to a database of normalized FDG-uptake values. Darker regions represent a greater relative defect in metabolic activity; black regions represent atrial myocardium with less than 50% normalized uptake of FDG consistent with hypometabolic scar. Left posterior oblique and right posterior oblique projections are shown in orthogonal views. Panels A, B, and C represent three different patients with the increasing amounts of left atrial scar taken from representative patients with no history of AF (A), paroxysmal AF (B), and persistent AF (C). AF: atrial fibrillation; FDG 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose.