According to doctors, a side effect of the vaccine may mimic signs of breast cancer.
(Thanks to University of Utah Health) A vial containing the Pfizer version of the COVID-19 vaccine. Doctors warn patients that they should delay mammograms by a month after receiving the last dose of the vaccine, due to a side effect that mimics a condition often found in cancer diagnoses.
Health experts nationwide, including a leading Utah doctor, are warning women receiving the COVID-19 vaccine to wait at least a month before getting a regular mammogram – due to the side effect of the vaccine that a mimics condition that often occurs in cancer diagnoses.
“We do not want patients to have these false positive reactions, and to have to sound the alarm,” he said. Brett Parkinson, medical director of Intermountain Healthcare’s breast care center, said.
Parkinson said doctors from the center, as well as doctors across the country, noted that some people receiving the COVID-19 vaccine had the side effect of swollen lymph nodes in the armpit or in the armpit. By itself, such swelling is not severe, and it usually subsides within four weeks.
“Their body has an immune response, and that’s a good thing,” Parkinson said.
When such swelling appears in the lymph nodes in the armpit during a regular mammogram, Parkinson said, a doctor will likely call a patient back for a more detailed examination. Such swelling, he said, could be a sign of metastatic breast cancer – a cancer that has spread outside the breast – or lymphoma or leukemia.
The side effect occurs in 11% of patients after the first dose of the Moderna version of the COVID-19 vaccine, and 16% of the time after the second dose, Parkinson said. He added that experts expect similar findings in patients receiving the Pfizer version.
‘We started looking at this and we realized that if we did not do something, that many patients would come back unnecessarily. [to their doctor] for these enlarged lymph nodes, ”Parkinson said.
Parkinson said signs have been placed at Intermountain’s Breast Care Center in Murray and other Intermountain locations that perform mammograms, telling patients that if they have other symptoms, such as a lump in their chest, they should delay getting a mammogram up to four weeks after their last dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.
(For now, the last dose is the second dose of the Pfizer or Moderna versions. If the single-shot vaccine Johnson & Johnson hits the Internet, as expected after federal approval later this month, the first dose will also be the last dose, Parkinson noted.)
Parkinson emphasized that if a patient has other symptoms of breast cancer – a lump in the breast or bloody discharge from the nipple or scale around the nipple – they should not hesitate to visit their doctor. “We will continue with the mammogram,” Parkinson said.
When the mammogram is routine, such as with an annual examination or a follow-up exam after a lumpectomy, the test can be delayed, but not indefinitely, Parkinson said.
“Do not skip the annual screening mammogram,” Parkinson said. Delaying it by a month or two will not be as effective. It can really procrastinate by a year. ‘
Women with an average risk of breast cancer should get a mammogram at age 40, and every year thereafter as long as they are healthy, Parkinson said. Women who have a history of breast cancer in their family, such as a mother or sister, should start getting mammograms at the age of 40 or 10 years before the age of their family member is diagnosed.
Parkinson said the breast care center does not provide mammograms for screening, which accounts for less than 1% of all breast cancer cases. If a man gets a palpable lump, he should get a diagnostic mammogram, Parkinson said.