Senior woman having a mammography scan at hospital
Common reported side effects of the COVID-19 vaccine have been body aches, nausea, chills and headaches. But one side effect could be mistaken as a possible sign of cancer.
Radiologists at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa are warning that the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccines can temporarily interfere with mammogram results.
They can cause swollen lymph nodes in the armpit on the side where the vaccine was administered.
Dr Bethany Neill, the section chief of breast imaging at Moffitt, said this can also be a very rare presentation of breast cancer. My colleagues and I have experienced this issue already, not only in the screening setting, but also in women who have been recently diagnosed with breast cancer. Both of those groups of women may receive COVID vaccine doses.