• Mohamed S El-Sayed, Godfrey N Wechie, Chen Sheng Low, Oludolapo Adesanya, Nikhil Rao, and Vincent J Leung.
• University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust, Coventry, UK.
• Clin Med (Lond). 2021 Nov 1; 21 (6): e633e638e633-e638.

ObjectivesReactive 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.MethodsA 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.ResultsThirty-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.ConclusionsPhysicians' 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.

16 keywords...

hide…