With the gradual attention to health, more and more people choose the colonoscopy, but get the report card is still half-understood: what is intestinal polyps? Do intestinal polyps need to be cut? Today to popularize the knowledge of intestinal polyps. What are intestinal polyps? Intestinal polyps is the general name of all the elevated lesions on the mucosa of the intestinal tract, in layman’s terms, it is the intestinal tract has grown some lumps of meat, including tumor and non-tumor lesions. Polyps are generally small, elongated and curved, irregular in shape, free at one end or attached to the intestinal wall at both ends and suspended in the center, in the form of a bridge. Before determining the nature of its pathology, collectively referred to as polyps, clear pathological nature of the site is directly titled to the diagnostic name of pathology, such as colonic tubular adenoma, rectal carcinoma in situ, colonic inflammatory polyps, and so on. Can intestinal polyps become malignant? First of all, let’s be clear that not all polyps are cancerous. Generally speaking, we will classify intestinal polyps into non-neoplastic polyps and adenomatous polyps (also called neoplastic polyps). Non-neoplastic polyps are generally non-cancerous and include the following: 1. Juvenile polyps: commonly found in young children, mostly under 10 years old. Often occurring in the rectum, spherical, mostly solitary, pathologically characterized by retention of cystic cavities of varying sizes, a kind of misshapen tumor. 2.Inflammatory polyps: also known as pseudopolyps. It is the ulcer of the colorectal mucosa in the healing process of fibrous tissue proliferation and inter-ulcer submucosal edema, so that the normal mucosal surface gradually raised and formed. Adenomatous polyps are recognized as precancerous lesions. Adenomatous polyps can be classified into three types, namely tubular adenomas, villous adenomas and tubular villous adenomas, with tubular adenomas being the most common. Causes of intestinal polyps? 1.Dietary factors The incidence of colorectal polyps increases significantly in people who eat a high-fat, high-protein, low-fiber diet for a long time. 2, bile metabolism disorders gastroduodenal ulcer gastrojejunostomy and cholecystectomy patients, the flow of bile and discharge time changes, the content of bile acids in the colon increased. 3.Genetic factors In colorectal cancer patients, about 10% of patients have family history of cancer. Similarly, when some family members have adenomatous polyps, the possibility of colorectal polyps in other members is significantly higher, especially the familial polyposis with obvious family heredity. 4, intestinal inflammatory diseases, chronic inflammatory lesions of the intestinal mucosa is the main cause of inflammatory polyps, most commonly seen in chronic ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease, as well as amoebic dysentery, intestinal schistosomiasis and intestinal tuberculosis, but also in the anastomotic site of the colon after surgery. 5.Gene abnormality The occurrence of familial polyposis may be related to the loss of function and absence of an allele of oncogene called APCadenomatous polyposis coli in the long arm of chromosome 5. Under normal circumstances, the allele needs to play a role in order to inhibit tumor growth, when the gene is absent or mutated, the inhibitory effect on the tumor disappears, thus colorectal adenomatous polyposis coli and carcinoma occur. 6, living habits low food fiber diet and colorectal polyps; smoking and adenomatous polyps have a close relationship. How long does it take for intestinal polyps to become malignant? From the age of onset, adenomatous polyps are 5~10 years earlier than colorectal cancer. According to Morson’s theory of adenoma to cancer development published in 1976, this time is about 10 years. However, according to some recent literature, it takes at least 5 years to progress from adenomatous polyp to cancer, with an average of 5 to 10 years. How can the nature of intestinal polyps be clarified? Under colonoscopy, the benign or malignant nature of polyps can be roughly judged from the general shape. Generally speaking, polyps with tips, diameter less than 2cm, smooth surface, and good mobility driven by mirrors are often benign. The submucosal flat, larger diameter (more than 2cm), surface bleeding, ulcers, mirror to promote poor mobility is often toward the malignant chance is greater. Enteroscopy can only be based on the morphology of the polyp to make a rough and ambiguous diagnosis, the correct treatment is the polyp complete excision sent to the pathological examination, in order to ultimately determine the nature of the polyp. Pathologic results are the “gold standard” for polyp diagnosis. Do intestinal polyps have to be removed? Most of the intestinal polyps are new organisms in the intestinal mucosa, before the “gold standard” of pathological examination, all diagnosis is just a guess, not to excise it, to stay in the body is, after all, a “time bomb”. If it is malignant, the harm needless to say; if it is adenoma and other pre-cancerous lesions, it is equivalent to a “time bomb”, with the increase in the number of polyps, the number of cancerous opportunity to increase rapidly, the diameter of more than 2cm adenomas nearly half of the malignant will become cancerous. Even inflammatory polyps, although less harmful to the body, but with the increase of polyps, may also bring a series of clinical symptoms, such as long-term blood in the stool, diarrhea, intussusception and even intestinal obstruction. Therefore, intestinal polyps should be removed. Endoscopic resection of intestinal polyps has become a routine method for the treatment of intestinal polyps, except for a very small number of intestinal polyps that are too large in diameter, with obvious malignant changes in endoscopic morphology, or too many in number, they can generally be removed completely under endoscopy. Generally speaking, intestinal polyps should be removed as soon as possible to avoid bringing some other diseases or even deteriorating into intestinal cancer.