FDG PET/CT radiomics as a tool to differentiate between reactive axillary lymphadenopathy following COVID-19 vaccination and metastatic breast cancer axillary lymphadenopathy: a pilot study

ConclusionRadiomics features can differentiate between FDG-avid breast cancer metastatic and FDG-avid COVID-19 vaccine –related axillary lymphadenopathy. Such a model may have a role in differentiating benign nodes from malignant ones.Key Points• Patients who were vaccinated with the COVID-19 mRNA vaccine have shown FDG-avid reactive axillary lymph nodes in PET-CT scans.• We evaluated if radiomics and machine learning can distinguish between FDG-avid metastatic axillary lymphadenopathy in breast cancer patients and FDG-avid reactive axillary lymph nodes.• Combined PET and CT radiomics data showed good test AUC (0.98) for distinguishing between metastatic axillary lymphadenopathy and post-COVID-19 vaccine–associated axillary lymphadenopathy. Therefore, the use of radiomics may have a role in differentiating between benign from malignant FDG-avid nodes.
Source: European Radiology - Category: Radiology Source Type: research