MR imaging of intracranial metastatic melanoma

Intracranial melanoma is an ideal lesion to study with MR imaging because of the inherent paramagnetic effect of free radicals known to exist in melanin. Nine patients with intracerebral metastases from cutaneous malignant melanoma were evaluated with spin-echo MR at 1.5 T and CT. Correlations were made with histopathologic findings. The unique MR appearance of intracranial melanoma enables separation of melanotic tumor from amelanotic tumor and from hemorrhage in certain cases. MR appears to be superior to CT in identifying and characterizing intracranial melanoma metastases and for following these lesions