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49-year-old woman recalled for asymmetry in left breast and large left axillary lymph node

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Our next patient is a 49-year-old woman

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recalled from screening, both for evaluation

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of an asymmetry in the left breast and for

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evaluation of a large left axillary lymph node.

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These are the screening mammogram views.

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For this patient, and there was a little

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asymmetry right here in the medial breast

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on the CC view, and then you can see

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this large lymph node in the left axilla.

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Blow that up a little bit, you know,

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sort of a big, thick lymph node.

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And it was larger than it

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had been on prior mammograms.

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And then this little asymmetry was new.

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So when she came back, she had a workup

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for the asymmetry, which included spot

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compression and lateral views, and then

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ultrasound, which was the little area on spot

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compression, little micro lobulated mass.

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So she had her ultrasound, just to show you that

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area of asymmetry, there was a little cluster

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of cysts here that we weren't too worried about.

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But in the axilla, she had this very

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large lymph node with a very thick cortex,

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up to eight millimeters in thickness.

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And there was a second one that was large,

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we found there were a couple

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others that were large as well.

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So at least two big lymph nodes.

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And then we questioned the patient some more,

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and we found out that she had had a COVID-19 vaccine

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administered to the left arm three weeks earlier.

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And we thought that this was almost certainly

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reactive and related to the COVID-19 vaccine.

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And at that time, we were following at

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three-month intervals, so we recommended

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three-month follow-up for that lymph node.

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And that was the recommendation at the time.

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Because this was early 2021.

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Ultimately, this lymph node didn't really

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change very much in size on follow-up, and a

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decision was made to do a lymph node biopsy.

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And there was some family history of

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breast cancer, so the patient was worried.

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And the biopsy was done and

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showed a reactive lymph node.

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So we think this was all related to the

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COVID-19 vaccine that the patient had.

Report

Faculty

Lisa Ann Mullen, MD

Assistant Professor; Breast Imaging Fellowship Director

Johns Hopkins Medicine

Tags

Women's Health

Ultrasound

Neoplastic

Mammography

Breast

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