THURSDAY, February 11, 2021 (HealthDay News) – One side effect of the COVID-19 vaccination is that women are unduly scared and concerned that they might have breast cancer.
Both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines can cause swelling of the lymph nodes, especially in the armpit on the side where the shot was taken, experts say.
Some women feel these armpit lymph nodes and mistake them for breast lumps, according to a recent report.
In addition, these swollen lymph nodes can appear on a mammogram even if women can’t feel them. This prompted the Society of Breast Imaging to recommend women postpone scheduled mammography within four weeks of their last COVID-19 exposure.
Lymph node swelling after vaccination is common and harmless, but doctors fear that it could cause excessive anxiety in women. It could also trigger a false positive on a mammogram, increasing the need for unnecessary further testing, said Dr. Brett Parkinson, medical director of the Breast Care Center at Intermountain Medical Center in Murray, Utah.
“In the normal screening population, it is very unusual to see enlarged lymph nodes. We only see this in about 0.2% to 0.4% of the cases,” said Parkinson.
“When we see it, it will raise a red flag because if that type of lymph node swelling is around 50% of the time, it could either be metastatic breast cancer that has spread from the breast to the lymph node under the arm, or leukemia Lymphoma, “he added.
When doctors see this, they want the patient to return. “We do extra tests, usually ultrasounds, and often we do a biopsy to rule out any of these malignancies,” Parkinson said.
Additional screening
He found that around 16% of patients in clinical trials had enlarged lymph nodes after their second shot of the Moderna vaccine, and the Pfizer vaccine produced a similar effect.
“I actually had a palpable armpit [armpit] Lymph nodes after my vaccination, “said Parkinson.” This also happens to men. “
A number of case reports recently published online in Clinical Imaging magazine listed four women who received the COVID-19 vaccine and subsequently sought breast screening.
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