Key result
A 48-year-old man with recurrent infiltrating amelanotic fusocellular malignant melanoma presented with cardiac metastases and tamponade requiring fluoroscopy-guided pericardiocentesis.
Why the study?
Malignant amelanotic fusocellular melanoma is an uncommon presentation with a high rate of cardiac involvement, but clinical diagnosis of cardiac metastases is rare.
Case Report (n=1)
This case highlights that amelanotic fusocellular melanoma can present with cardiac metastases and cardiac tamponade, requiring prompt pericardiocentesis.
Cardiac involvement should be considered in recurrent amelanotic fusocellular melanoma; single case leaves open need for systematic screening studies.
Melanoma is one of the most aggressive types of skin cancer. The malignant amelanotic fusocellular melanoma subtype is an uncommon presentation, however, it has a high rate of cardiac involvement, it presents asymptomatic or with symptoms ranging from nonspecific to cardiac tamponade or heart failure. We present a case of a 48-year-old man with recurrent infiltrating amelanotic fusocellular malignant melanoma, with incidentally visualized biventricular lesion and right atrium, with cardiac tamponade with subsequent fluoroscopy-guided pericardiocentesis. Primary cardiac tumors have a prevalence of 1:2000 autopsies and secondary cardiac tumors of 1:100 autopsies, remaining as a secondary: primary ratio of 20:1. In patients with this type of melanoma, although cardiac metastases are common, the diagnosis of them is rare, when it occurs, the disease is very advanced and the treatment is usually palliative.
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Quiroz et al. (2023) conducted a case report in Recurrent infiltrating amelanotic fusocellular malignant melanoma with cardiac metastases (n=1). Fluoroscopy-guided pericardiocentesis was evaluated. A 48-year-old man with recurrent infiltrating amelanotic fusocellular malignant melanoma presented with cardiac metastases and tamponade requiring fluoroscopy-guided pericardiocentesis.
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