PHOENIX – Banner Imaging is seeing more and more women worried about their health after developing swollen lymph nodes in the breast region.
Doctors say the recent increase is actually related to the COVID-19 vaccine.
“My first thought was: it is a lump. It’s a lump on the side of my breast. So my brain immediately went over there, ”says Liz Melander, who had an enlarged lymph node.
Melander was thinking about his children right now, hoping it wasn’t a sign of breast cancer.
“I started to feel the pain and then I was able to really feel an enlarged lymph node, or at least what I assumed was a lymph node. It looked like the size of a blueberry, ”says Melander.
Melander asked a nurse to examine the lump after dealing with it for almost a week. She mentioned that she had recently received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.
“Do you think it might be related? I haven’t heard that this is a side effect yet. She said she had heard and immediately when she said I was thinking, ‘Okay, we’re fine. No need to panic'” says Melander.
This side effect is not specific to the COVID vaccine, but Banner Imaging says it is more frequent than what they have seen historically with other vaccines.
“When we do an ultrasound, we see a typical appearance of lymph nodes that are inflamed or reactive. ”, Says Dr. Threasa Frouge, Medical Director at Banner Imaging.
Dr. Frouge says it is a sign that the body is working to produce antibodies and create resistance. The enlarged lymph nodes should only last a few days or weeks before they disappear.
“Obviously, what we always want to be sure of is that it is not cancer or lymphoma,” says Dr. Frouge.
Early detection is critical. Dr. Frouge recommends that anyone with a breast complaint check out and inform the provider if you have recently received the COVID-19 vaccine. Banner Imaging is also following the new mammography guidelines.
“People who come for screening tests, if you can schedule before the vaccine or four weeks later, it’s great … because then we don’t have to worry about seeing the lymph nodes,” says Dr. Frouge.
Banner Imaging says he has noticed a decline in the number of patients who come in for their annual mammogram because of the pandemic. They stress that it is a safe environment and not to wait.