Characteristics of CMR Appearance in a Case of Cardiac Metastatic Melanoma

A 53-year-old woman was found “an occupant in the left ciliary body” two years ago and underwent the surgery of “left eye ball removal”. Pathological results confirmed the diagnosis of malignant melanoma. The patient was admitted to our hospital again due to newly found heart murmur. With the combination of cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging characteristics, including high signals on T1-weighted and fat-suppressed T1-weighted images, the high signal on T2-weighted images, uneven first-pass perfusion and late gadolinium enhancement (LGE), as well as PET signal characteristics, the diagnosis of malignant melanoma cardiac metastasis was made. This case suggests that multimodality CMR, including T1-weighted, T2-weighted, first-pass perfusion, late gadolinium enhancement, and cine imaging, can be used to monitor and detect cardiac metastasis of melanoma in a relatively early stage. Therefore, we recommend a routine echocardiography screening for patients diagnosed with melanoma. In addition, CMR examinations and PET/CT may help early detection and timely intervention of melanoma cardiac metastasis, as for their good specificity in detecting, this disease in clinical practice.