Asia Oceania Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Biology

Asia Oceania Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Biology

Unilateral axillary lymph node fluorodeoxyglucose uptakes after coronavirus disease 2019 vaccination

Document Type : Case report

Authors
Tomonori Chikasue
Seiji Kurata
Akiko Sumi
Akihiro Matsuda
Fumihiro Tsubaki
Kiminori Fujimoto
Toshi Abe
Department of Radiology, Kurume University School of Medicine, Japan
10.22038/aojnmb.2021.59883.1419
Abstract
Vaccination against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) started in early December 2020 worldwide, and healthcare workers in Japan were vaccinated in February 2021. We encountered three patients who underwent 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) for cancer screening at our institution, showing FDG uptakes in the axillary lymph nodes, which seemed to be reactive changes. Two of them were males in their 40s and one was a female in her 50s; all of them were healthcare workers. The medical history revealed that they received the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccination twice at their left shoulders before the FDG PET/CT examination. The degree of FDG uptakes were maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax)=3.2–9.9, SUVmax=5.9–10.3, and SUVmax=2.8–7.9, respectively. They were diagnosed with reactive lymph nodes because of vaccination owing to the absence of abnormal FDG PET/CT findings at other sites. As COVID-19 vaccination becomes more widespread in Japan, radiologists should be aware of these findings to avoid misdiagnosis of FDG uptakes in pathological lymph nodes and to prevent unnecessary additional examinations. Recently, similar FDG PET/CT findings have been reported after receiving the COVID-19 vaccination, and we will report it with a literature review.
Keywords
COVID-19
Vaccination
PET/CT
Axillary lymph nodes
18F-FDG uptake
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Asia Oceania Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Biology
Volume 10, Issue 2
July 2022
Pages 142-146