Mohamed S El-Sayed1, Godfrey N Wechie1, Chen Sheng Low1, Oludolapo Adesanya1, Nikhil Rao1, Vincent J Leung1.
Abstract
OBJECTIVES: Reactive axillary lymph nodes (ALN) may occur post-COVID-19 vaccination. This may be confused with malignant nodal metastases on oncological imaging. We aimed to determine the reactive ALN incidence and duration on 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography - computed tomography (18F-FDG PET-CT), and its relationship with gender, age and vaccine type.
METHODS: A retrospective study was performed. Two-hundred and four eligible patients had 18F-FDG PET-CT between 01 January 2021 and 31 March 2021, post-vaccination with Pfizer-BioNTech or Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. Image analysis was performed on dedicated workstations. SPSS was used for statistical analysis.
RESULTS: Thirty-six per cent of patients had reactive ALN until 10 weeks post-vaccination; reducing in frequency and intensity with time. Women were more likely to have reactive ALN compared with men. The frequency and intensity were higher in patients aged <65 years compared with those aged ≥65 years. However, no difference was found between both vaccine types in our study cohort.
CONCLUSIONS: Physicians' awareness of COVID-19 vaccine-related reactive ALN on 18F-FDG PET-CT is important to avoid inappropriate upstaging of cancers. © Royal College of Physicians 2021. All rights reserved.
OBJECTIVES: Reactive axillary lymph nodes (ALN) may occur post-COVID-19 vaccination. This may be confused with malignant nodal metastases on oncological imaging. We aimed to determine the reactive ALN incidence and duration on 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography - computed tomography (18F-FDG PET-CT), and its relationship with gender, age and vaccine type.
METHODS: A retrospective study was performed. Two-hundred and four eligible patients had 18F-FDG PET-CT between 01 January 2021 and 31 March 2021, post-vaccination with Pfizer-BioNTech or Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. Image analysis was performed on dedicated workstations. SPSS was used for statistical analysis.
RESULTS: Thirty-six per cent of patients had reactive ALN until 10 weeks post-vaccination; reducing in frequency and intensity with time. Women were more likely to have reactive ALN compared with men. The frequency and intensity were higher in patients aged <65 years compared with those aged ≥65 years. However, no difference was found between both vaccine types in our study cohort.
CONCLUSIONS: Physicians' awareness of COVID-19 vaccine-related reactive ALN on 18F-FDG PET-CT is important to avoid inappropriate upstaging of cancers. © Royal College of Physicians 2021. All rights reserved.
Entities:
Keywords:
18F-FDG PET-CT; COVID-19 vaccine; lymphadenopathy
Mesh：
Substances：
Year: 2021
PMID： 34862224 PMCID： PMC8806286 DOI： 10.7861/clinmed.2021-0420
Source DB: PubMed Journal: Clin Med (Lond) ISSN： 1470-2118 Impact factor: 2.659