GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — Local health care specialists are telling women not to put off their mammograms after receiving a vaccine despite reports of “false positives.”
ThedaCare specialists say as the COVID-19 vaccine became widely available, they found some women were coming in with enlarged lymph nodes during their mammograms.
“In most cases this is a very benign process, it’s just the immune system reacting to the vaccine and basically getting ready to produce antibodies but of course, we didn’t want to miss anything concerning, like breast cancer that could have gone into the lymph nodes,” explained ThedaCare radiation oncologist, Dr. Shaneli Fernando.
So for a period of time, it was recommended that women wait four to six weeks after receiving a vaccine to get their mammogram done.
Dr. Fernando says this type of reaction is also seen with other vaccines such as the flu shot or shingles.
A recent Radiology study, which surveyed 1,200 women, found 44% had enlarged lymph nodes after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine. It also said 46% of those with enlarged lymph nodes received the Moderna vaccine, while about 40% had Johnson & Johnson or Pfizer.
The study also showed that for some, the lymph nodes can stay enlarged longer than four to six weeks.
“We’ve really found that those lymph nodes can hang around for months and so now our guideline and recommendation is that women do not delay their mammograms; they come in and continue with their health care maintenance, including mammograms,” she said.
Dr. Fernando suggests that if you recently received a vaccine, you should let your doctor know before the mammogram.
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