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Updated: May 20, 2026
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Injection of Syngeneic Murine Melanoma Cells to Determine Their Metastatic Potential in the Lungs
Published on: May 24, 2016
Metastatic melanoma to the heart
Brian C Allen1, Tan Lucien Mohammed, Carmela D Tan
1Department of Radiology, Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, Winston Salem, NC 27157, USA. bcallen2@wakehealth.edu
Current Problems in Diagnostic Radiology
|July 24, 2012
Summary
Detecting melanoma metastasis to the heart is challenging but possible with advanced imaging. Multimodality approaches, including echocardiography, CT, MRI, and PET scans, reveal characteristic findings for cardiac melanoma.
Area of Science:
- Oncology
- Cardiology
- Radiology
Background:
- Melanoma commonly metastasizes to the heart, though rarely diagnosed before death.
- Cardiac metastasis detection often requires advanced imaging techniques.
Purpose of the Study:
- To outline the multimodality imaging findings of cardiac melanoma metastasis.
- To enhance ante mortem diagnosis of heart involvement in melanoma patients.
Main Methods:
- Review of imaging findings from echocardiography, computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and positron emission tomography (PET).
- Correlation of imaging characteristics with known properties of melanoma.
Main Results:
- Echocardiography: Initial detection of metastases and complications.
- CT: Reveals intraluminal filling defects and myocardial/pericardial nodules.
- MRI: Classically hyperintense on T1 and hypointense on T2 due to melanin, but not always observed.
- PET: Detects avid fluorine-18-fluorodeoxyglucose uptake in melanoma metastases.
Conclusions:
- Multimodality imaging is crucial for diagnosing cardiac melanoma metastasis.
- Specific findings on echocardiography, CT, MRI, and PET aid in ante mortem identification.
