Patients Vaccinated for COVID-19 may have False Positive Imaging Results

New research suggests that patients recently vaccinated for COVID-19 can experience false positive imaging exams. The article published online in the Journal of the American College of Radiology (JACR) also outlines steps that providers can take to reduce unwarranted follow-up care for these findings.

The authors wrote that “knowledge of patient vaccination history and common presentation of benign reactive lymphadenopathy post COVID-19 vaccination can mitigate false positive assessments, unnecessary additional imaging and biopsies throughout the COVID vaccination period.”

Among other steps, the authors recommend documenting vaccination information (date of vaccination, injection site, type of vaccine) on intake forms and having this information available to the radiologist at the time of exam interpretation.

The authors say these recommendations are designed to reduce patient anxiety, provider burden and costs of unnecessary evaluation of enlarged nodes in the setting of recent vaccination, and avoid further delays in vaccinations and recommended imaging for best patient care during the pandemic.

“Unilateral lymphadenopathy after COVID vaccination is likely something that all radiologists will observe over the next several months and the recommendations by this author group may help practices manage this issue,” said Christoph Lee, MD, MBA, Deputy Editor of JACR.