MURRAY – New mammography guidelines for women receiving the COVID-19 vaccine were adopted Tuesday by Intermountain Healthcare and hospitals nationwide.
Doctors said the swelling in the vaccine could complicate a correct reading of mammograms.
The guidelines say that women who have recently had the COVID-19 vaccine or intend to receive it soon may want to reschedule a future mammogram.
Swelling of the lymph nodes can lead to poor reading.
“What a lot of people don’t realize is that when we do a mammogram, we can see those lymph nodes,” said Dr. Brett Parkinson, medical director of the Intermountain Healthcare Breast Care Center.
The medical center now recommends that women over the age of 40 have an annual mammogram before receiving the vaccine or delaying cancer screening by at least four weeks after the final dose.
Here’s why: When people get the COVID-19 vaccine, their arm swells. “Those who have been vaccinated can attest to this,” Parkinson said.
This swelling also occurs in the lymph nodes in the armpit area, usually on the same side of the shot, which is visible on a mammogram. I usually do not see enlarged lymph nodes unless it is inflammation or cancer. Recent national research has found swollen lymph nodes in 11% of patients who received the vaccine after the first dose and in 16% after the second dose.
So when you have a mammogram right after a COVID vaccine, you may have enlarged lymph nodes, Parkinson said.
He said he rarely sees the lymph nodes enlarged unless the breast cancer has traveled to the lymph nodes or if it is lymphoma or leukemia.
So when you have a mammogram right after a COVID vaccine, you may have enlarged lymph nodes … We don’t want patients to get these positive fakes to have this kind of alarm.
–Dr. Brett Parkinson, medical director of the Breast Care Center at Intermountain Healthcare
“We don’t want patients to get these positive fakes to have this kind of alarm,” Parkinson said. So we put a set of guidelines for patients to follow.
The new guidelines are also recommended by the Breast Imaging Society after swollen lymph nodes have been found in mammograms nationwide.
If the swelling of the lymph nodes does not go away after four weeks, Parkinson said he should be checked by a doctor.
“This is a known side effect,” he said. “Don’t panic when it happens. But if it doesn’t work out, then come in and be seen and we’ll look at that lymph node.”
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Jed Boal