The name polyps generally refers to raised lesions on the human body surface or in the body. It may appear on the skin, but may also appear in the stomach, gallbladder, and uterus. Therefore, as long as a bulge is found in the large intestine, it can be called a polyp, but not all polyps are related to colorectal cancer. Clinically, adenomatous polyps are likely to develop into cancer. Adenomas with a higher risk of transforming into cancer are those that are larger than 1 cm, have villous components and a high degree of cellular atypia after pathological testing.
80~95% of colorectal cancers evolve from polyps
According to statistics, 80 to 95% of colorectal cancers evolve from polyps slowly over the years. The average time it takes for a normal colorectal mucosa to become a colorectal adenomatous polyp is about 10 years, but it only takes about 5 years for an adenomatous polyp to become colorectal cancer.
Many people may find large intestinal polyps during health check-ups, but since polyps often have no symptoms when they first appear, they are easily ignored. Therefore, if the polyps can be removed before they become large or turn into early-stage cancer, the chance of suffering from colorectal cancer will be greatly reduced.
Not all polyps must be removed
But not all polyps must be removed. Generally speaking,adenomatous polypsmust be removed. As for whether other polyps need to be removed, it depends on the doctor's diagnostic ability and on-the-spot judgment. In some cases, when some non-neoplastic polyps look like neoplastic polyps under endoscopy, for the sake of safety, doctors will first remove the polyps and wait for pathological tests to be released before making a final diagnosis.
We strongly recommend that everyone have regular colon examinations, especially those over 50 years old should have aColonoscopyonce a year. If a polyp is found during the examination, be sure to follow the doctor's advice and have it removed to prevent the occurrence of colorectal cancer.
