Nowadays, as people’s living standards continue to improve, the diet structure has also changed, no longer like the previous grandparents, all day coarse vegetables, rare New Year’s Day to eat some brindled vegetables, which is not, a limerick from a year ago says: “Every holiday fat three pounds, take a closer look at three kilograms ……”. Due to the intake of a large number of high-protein, high-fat, high-calorie foods, dietary fiber intake is insufficient, which will change the environment of the large intestine. Some studies have shown that dietary fatty content of more than 40% is an important factor in the development of intestinal polyps, of course, there are also chronic inflammatory stimuli, family genetics and other factors. Clinical studies have shown that colon polyps are very closely related to colon cancer. The cancer rate of adenomatous polyps is high, and the cancer rate of adenomatous polyps larger than 2 cm in diameter can be more than 60%. Therefore, the majority of intestinal cancers evolve from intestinal polyps. It is estimated that the time from polyp to carcinoma is 5-15 years. Once the tumor develops into a progressive stage, the course of the disease is significantly accelerated and its treatment effect will be affected by various factors such as tumor size, infiltration and metastasis, etc. Although many patients undergo active treatment and suffer from various pains including surgery and radiotherapy. Especially for tumors in the lower rectum, artificial anus is required after surgery, and the quality of life is seriously reduced, while the survival period of some patients is only prolonged for just a few months, which is ultimately the end of people and money. The ideal goal of colon polyp treatment is to interrupt the development of polyps before they become cancerous, so that the occurrence of colon cancer can be effectively controlled. The siblings of colon polyps Colon polyps are actually very common diseases, and there are many types of polyps. However, polyps are actually a morphological description, which includes “hyperplastic polyps”, “inflammatory polyps”, “juvenile polyps”, “adenomatous polyps”, “familial polyposis”, and so on. Based on their pathological characteristics, the first three are generally considered benign polyps, which are histologically free of anomalous changes and therefore less likely to become cancerous, while the latter two, especially adenomatous polyps, or “adenomas,” include adenomas, tubular adenomas, and villous tubular adenomas, among others. Adenomatous polyps do not usually go away on their own, and there is no conclusive evidence that certain drugs can make them disappear. If a polyp is found and not treated in time, it will grow with time and become anamorphic. When the anamorphism becomes severe anaplastic hyperplasia (or high grade intraepithelial neoplasia), it is already precancerous, which we can understand as “standing on the edge of the cliff”. In a study conducted in Japan, an adenoma without any intervention and only regular checkups often becomes cancerous within 2-10 years, and this time is unpredictable. Anticipating the occurrence of intestinal polyps To prevent colon cancer, it is necessary to have a medical checkup. But the question arises, which test is the most effective for colon polyps and bowel cancer? For now, colonoscopy is still the most effective tool. Should we ask everyone to have a colonoscopy? That doesn’t seem realistic, so primary screening is needed. How can primary screening be performed? The most straightforward, simple and cost effective test is the “fecal occult blood test”. If a normal person has a negative fecal occult blood test, a positive fecal occult blood test is required, and it may be caused by an upper gastrointestinal tract disease. Who are the people with high incidence? Generally, people with a family history of tumor are considered to have a high incidence, and the high incidence age is usually after 40 years old. However, we keep detecting colon cancer in young people under 35 years old, what should we do? If there is any change in stool characteristics and bowel habits, we need to have a timely checkup. In addition, the solution of fresh blood stool, also need to pay attention to in addition to hemorrhoid bleeding, rectal polyps or polyps caused by cancer, there are many long-term solution of bloody stool mistaken for hemorrhoids, or hemorrhoid surgery, still have stool bleeding, and finally colonoscopy found that it is rectal cancer, can only undergo surgery. Colonoscopy is not that scary The most effective, intuitive and valuable examination mentioned earlier is colonoscopy. This endoscopic treatment technology, which is like a camera directly into the intestine, is controlled by the doctor to complete the examination of the entire colon. Many patients feel very frightened about colonoscopy, because they are worried about the damage to their intestines and the pain caused by the thick tube inserted and “pounded” in their stomachs. In fact, due to the improvement of equipment and technology, especially the improvement of single colonoscopy technology and the application of painless colonoscopy, colonoscopy is not very painful now. Through colonoscopy, polyps of 3-5 mm or more can be detected, and some small inflammatory or hyperplastic polyps can be directly removed during the examination by special biopsy forceps, which can play both a diagnostic and therapeutic role. However, there are a number of reasons that can affect the detection rate of polyps, namely low-quality diagnostic colonoscopy, low-quality bowel preparation, and the physician’s operating experience. Therefore, it is important to follow a strict diet and bowel preparation prior to the colonoscopy appointment so that optimal bowel cleansing can be achieved and lesions can be more easily detected. And now more advanced equipment is constantly being put into use, along with the use of new technologies that allow even tiny polyps to be detected. Colonoscopic polypectomy has proven to be successful in stopping the development of bowel cancer and a significant number of patients have benefited from it due to the widespread use of colonoscopy, increased patient awareness and improvements in polypectomy techniques. Colon polypectomy is necessary Once colon polyps are detected, they need to be treated and colon polypectomy is an effective way to stop colon cancer. When colon polyps are larger than 5 mm or more, they need to be hospitalized for endoscopic polypectomy. For tipped or subtip polyps less than 2 cm, endoscopic mucosal resection (EMR) can be performed; when polyps exceed this diameter, endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) is required for complete removal at one time, and the removed tissue will be examined pathologically to determine whether there is a possibility of cancer. If there is cancer, it is further confirmed whether there is superficial cancer or deep infiltration. If there is no deep infiltration, we consider the treatment can be ended and the patient is followed up for a long time. Once pathology reveals deep infiltration, it is very important to perform additional surgical procedures to ensure complete removal of the lesion. Pay attention to regular postoperative follow-up For patients with multiple polyps and familial polyposis, although polyps have been removed, regular follow-up is necessary. The density of follow-up is related to the nature of the pathology after polyp removal, the number of polyps, and the age of the patient. Do not think that once the polyps are removed, everything will be fine. In fact, there are still some objective limitations and there may be some smaller or hidden polyps that are hidden in some folds of the colon or missed due to poor bowel cleansing. Therefore, for patients with a history of polyps, depending on the situation after the first endoscopic procedure, the treating physician will decide the frequency and number of years of patient follow-up, usually once a year at first, and if no polyps are found twice in a row, the follow-up period can be extended to once every two years or once every three years for a high standard colonoscopy, so that once tiny polyps are found, they can be treated in time. How to prevent colon polyps and colon cancer? Generally speaking, to prevent the occurrence of diseases, by and large, we should pay attention to reasonable diet, proper exercise, regular life, etc. Doing the following points will have a certain preventive effect on the occurrence of colon polyps and even colon cancer. 1. Develop good and healthy living habits, eat healthy food, avoid high-fat and high-protein food, eat less fried and smoked food, reduce the intake of salt in the diet, eat less refined food, eat more coarse food, increase the dietary fiber in the diet, eat more vegetables, especially coarse fiber, food containing more fiber, add yogurt (containing lactic acid bacteria) products, not “drinks”; 2. Develop the habit of regular bowel movement, avoid water in the stool Avoid the absorption of water in the stool, resulting in dry stool and constipation, and too long stay of stool in the intestine, the intestine will absorb the toxins in the stool; 3. Negative emotions are not good for physical and mental health.