Chikasue Tomonori, Kurata Seiji, Sumi Akiko, Matsuda Akihiro, Tsubaki Fumihiro, Fujimoto Kiminori, Abe Toshi
Department of Radiology, Kurume University School of Medicine, Japan.
Asia Ocean J Nucl Med Biol. 2022 Spring;10(2):142-146. doi: 10.22038/AOJNMB.2021.59883.1419.
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 F-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 (SUV)=3.2-9.9, SUV=5.9-10.3, and SUV=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.
2019冠状病毒病（COVID-19）疫苗接种于2020年12月初在全球启动，日本的医护人员于2021年2月接种了疫苗。我们遇到了三名在我院接受氟脱氧葡萄糖（FDG）正电子发射断层扫描/计算机断层扫描（PET/CT）癌症筛查的患者，其腋窝淋巴结出现FDG摄取，似乎是反应性改变。其中两人为40多岁男性，一人为50多岁女性；他们均为医护人员。病史显示，他们在进行FDG PET/CT检查前，均在左肩接受了两次辉瑞-BioNTech COVID-19疫苗接种。FDG摄取程度的最大标准化摄取值（SUV）分别为3.2 - 9.9、5.9 - 10.3和2.8 - 7.9。由于其他部位FDG PET/CT检查未发现异常，他们被诊断为接种疫苗引起的反应性淋巴结。随着COVID-19疫苗在日本的更广泛接种，放射科医生应了解这些表现，以避免将病理性淋巴结的FDG摄取误诊，并防止不必要的进一步检查。最近，已有关于接种COVID-19疫苗后出现类似FDG PET/CT表现的报道，我们将结合文献综述进行报告。
