Colorectal polyp refers to a raised lesion on the surface of the intestinal mucosa protruding into the intestinal lumen, commonly known as a “meat lump” growing in the intestinal canal. Colon polyps are a common disease, and most of them are adenomatous polyps, according to research: the chance of cancer of such adenomatous polyps is very high, and the chance of cancer will gradually increase with the increase of age, so in this sense, colon polyps are the “pre-cancer” of intestinal cancer.
I. How far is it from intestinal polyp to intestinal cancer?
According to the pathological classification, some colorectal polyps are the products of benign hyperplasia, and some are the consequences of inflammatory hyperplasia. However, because they look similar to the naked eye, the name “colorectal polyp” has been used until now.
Among colorectal polyps, some are non-neoplastic polyps, such as inflammatory polyps, hyperplastic polyps, and malignant polyps, and the occurrence and development of these polyps are not related to colorectal cancer. The most common polyp is adenomatous polyp, which is closely related to the occurrence of colorectal cancer. Statistics show that 80% of colorectal cancers evolve from colorectal adenomas: the incidence of colorectal cancer in patients with adenomatous polyps is 3-5 times higher than that of the general population, and that of multiple adenomas can be 10 times higher or even more. In addition, the larger the size of adenomatous polyps, the higher the chance of cancer; the higher the cancer rate of non-tipped adenomas compared to tipped adenomas, so it is not an empty talk to classify adenomatous polyps as precancerous lesions. If they are not detected and eradicated in time, some of them will one day turn into the dreaded bowel cancer.
How do colorectal polyps “lurk”?
Most patients with colorectal polyps can be clinically asymptomatic when they start, and they will be silently “lurking” in our body, which is not easily detectable. Some larger polyps can also cause intestinal symptoms, mainly changes in bowel habits, increased frequency, mucus or mucus-blood stools, but occasionally abdominal pain, and in rare cases, a mass can come out of the anus during stool. Some patients may have long-term blood in the stool or anemia, and patients with family history often have a suggestive effect on the diagnosis of polyps.
Since colorectal polyps are often asymptomatic clinically, even if some gastrointestinal symptoms such as bloating, diarrhea and constipation occur, they are mild and atypical and are often overlooked. Therefore, the diagnosis of colorectal polyps should firstly raise the physician’s awareness of the disease, where the cause of blood in the stool or digestive symptoms is unknown, especially in middle-aged and elderly men over 40 years old should be noted for further examination. In this way, the diagnosis rate of colorectal polyps can be expected to improve.
Third, how to Say No to colorectal polyps? Colorectal polyps is a common disease in anorectal surgery, but the reality is that many patients do not understand the disease, often suffer from the disease after a long delay or blindly treated. A large number of clinical treatment experience tells us: colorectal polyps, if long-term failure to treat misdiagnosis, the potential impact on the body is great, serious can also be extended into cancer, so for colorectal polyps must pay attention to the “three early principles”, namely early detection, early diagnosis, early treatment.
As colorectal polyps grow slowly, early removal of colorectal polyps is of great significance to improve clinical symptoms and reduce the occurrence of colorectal cancer. So what are the ways we can “fight” against colorectal polyps? Since the application of e-colonoscopy in clinical treatment, clinicians have made a qualitative leap in the treatment of colorectal polyps, the specific treatment methods can be based on the nature of intestinal polyps: polyps with tips and small polyps without tips, can be removed by e-colonoscopy, electrocautery with a trap under direct vision, or thermal biopsy clamp method, this method has a high success rate and precise treatment effect.
In short, colorectal polyps in the clinical features can be followed, patients with the above symptoms need to be more vigilant, not to take a chance, should grasp its characteristics and combined with the risk factors of malignant colon polyps, timely hospital treatment to reduce the occurrence of malignant colon polyps into colorectal cancer, so that the colon polyps called “bowel cancer prequel” never There will never be a sequel.