Axillary node reactivity after mRNA vaccine ‘can mimic malignancy’
One in four patients show reactivity on PET scans that could lead to cancer misdiagnosis, researchers report
Ipsilateral axillary lymph node reactivity seen in one in four patients after the IM administration of a COVID-19 mRNA vaccine may cause unnecessary concern for cancer patients, a small study suggests.
Researchers from Yale School of Medicine examined 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose PET and CT scans of 68 patients who had had at least one vaccine dose of the Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines.
All but one of the recipients had undergone the PET/CT for cancer indications, none of which was adenopathy ipsilateral to the vaccination site, the doctors wrote in a research letter to JAMA Oncology.
Reactive ipsilateral axillary lymph nodes developed in nine patients, seven of whom were women.
