Surgical resection of solitary metastasis of malignant melanoma to the right atrium.

Abstract

Malignant melanoma has a very high tendency to metastasize to the heart. Although most cardiac metastases of melanomas are clinically silent, the lesions may present with life-threatening cardiac morbidities, including dysrhythmia, right ventricular outflow tract obstruction, myocardial dysfunction, pericardial effusion, or heart failure. In selected patients who have a solitary intracardiac melanoma, surgical resection can provide relief from clinical symptoms and minimize potential cardiac sequelae of the tumor. Because tumor embolization of cardiac melanoma has been reported, the presence of atrial metastatic melanoma can be another indication for surgery.Herein, we present the case of a 31-year-old man who had a right atrial metastatic melanoma of unknown primary origin. He underwent surgical resection of the tumor before beginning a course of chemotherapy. After 1 year, he was well and had no symptoms. We describe the clinical features of this rare presentation of melanoma.