New mammogram guidelines for women recently vaccinated for COVID-19

SALT LAKE CITY — Intermountain Healthcare doctors announced new mammogram guidelines Tuesday in response to a surprising new side effect of the COVID-19 vaccine.

They say women who recently received a COVID-19 vaccine may have to reschedule their yearly mammogram.

“When one receives a vaccination there is an inflammatory response in the arm,” said Dr. Brett Parkinson, medical director of Intermountain Healthcare’s Breast Care Center.

In the past four weeks, doctors have seen swollen lymph nodes on screening mammograms of women who have recently been vaccinated.

“Whenever we see these on a normal screening mammogram we call those patients back because it can either mean metastatic breast cancer which travels to the lymph nodes or lymphoma or leukemia.”

While inflammation is the body’s normal response to a vaccine, Dr. Parkinson says it’s surprising how many swollen lymph nodes they’ve been seeing.

“With the Moderna vaccine it’s about 11% after the first dose and 16% after the second dose. We believe it’s comparable for the Pfizer vaccine as well.”  Read Full Article 

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