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DENVER (CBS4) – Getting a COVID-19 vaccine is a relief for most people, but some women discover a worrying side effect for both Pfizer and Modern vaccines. The vaccine can cause inflammation of the lymph nodes and this can reflect the signs of breast cancer.
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Even a radiologist specializing in breast imaging was alarmed.
“I panicked, I’ll admit, initially,” said Dr. Bridget Rogers, a Solis Mammology radiologist.
I knew that swollen lymph nodes could be a sign of breast cancer. So, in early January, he was alarmed.
“I had a big, visible, painful ache,” she told Kathy Walsh, a CBS4 health specialist.
The day before, Rogers received his second COVID-19 shot, the Pfizer vaccine. I knew that a possible side effect was enlarged lymph nodes.
“I tried to reassure myself by remembering that it was actually a signal that the vaccine was doing what it was supposed to do, activating your immune system,” he said.
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Rogers admits he took a look with an ultrasound.
“It’s always different to be on the patient side of the experience,” he said. “It was a sigh of relief the second day, when it started to get better rather than worse.”
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Rogers is not alone. He showed CBS4 the mammograms of another doctor who had been vaccinated.
“It simply came to our notice then. These are the lymph nodes that are expanding this year.
“I’ve been trying to warn women prematurely,” said Dr. Stephanie Miller, a breast surgeon and medical director of the Rose Medical Center breast program.
“We don’t want to prevent anyone from being part of the vaccination process,” Miller said.
He said breast cancer has not slowed down during the pandemic. She tells women to have their mammograms done and let the mammography center know if you have recently had a vaccine.
“So we can have the right explanation of what we’re seeing,” he said.
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Miller said delaying mammograms this year has had consequences.
“Women develop and present with breast cancer a little more in the later stages of the game and we want to minimize it as much as possible,” Miller said.
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He doesn’t want women to be scared. Your message is to get a COVID-19 vaccine and a mammogram, both of which are important to your health.