The Day after Mass COVID-19 Vaccination: Higher Hypermetabolic Lymphadenopathy Detection on PET/CT and Impact on Oncologic Patients Management

Cancers

Marco Tucci¹  Dino Rubini²  Antonio Rosario Pisani²  Cristina Ferrari²  Anna Giulia Nappi²  Paolo Mammucci²  Giulia Santo² 

[1] Division of Medical Oncology, Department of Biomedical Sciences and Human Oncology, University of Bari Aldo Moro, 70121 Bari, Italy;Section of Nuclear Medicine, Interdisciplinary Department of Medicine, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Piazza Giulio Cesare 11, 70124 Bari, Italy;

关键词: COVID-19;    positron emission tomography;    PET/CT;    vaccination;    axillary lymph nodes;    oncologic imaging;   

DOI  :  10.3390/cancers13174340

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

The widespread COVID-19 vaccination led to unexpected PET findings. Notably, axillary and interpectoral lymphadenopathies ipsilateral to the vaccine inoculation were observed. We aimed to assess the hypermetabolic lymphadenopathy (HLN) detection rate on PET/CT. Secondly, we investigated factors that might help in HLN differential diagnosis. A retrospective analysis on 1196 consecutive patients referred for a PET/CT was performed. All patients were asked about the date, type and site of vaccine injections. HLNs were recorded and categorized according to risk classes and SUVmax grades. A statistical analysis was performed to assess the correlation between HLN detection and different clinical/vaccine data. HLN detection rate was 15% and 27% in the No Vac- and vac-groups (p < 0.001), respectively. In the Vac-group, age (p < 0.001) and time interval from vaccine-to-PET (p = 0.010) were inversely correlated with HLN detection. Furthermore, SUVmax significantly changed during time intervals, with lower values beyond 20 days (p < 0.001). In the era of mass COVID-19 vaccination, a higher axillary and interpectoral lymphadenopathies detection ipsilateral to vaccine injection was observed. These PET findings can be wrongly interpreted, complicating cancer patients’ management. To minimize these pitfalls, a detailed vaccination anamnesis must be recorded and should take into account the appropriate PET schedule.

【 授权许可】

Unknown