Cures for Colon Polyps

Colon polyps are growths on the surface of the colon or large intestine. Extremely common, most people with these polyps have no symptoms. Usually, they are detected during routine checkups. While most colon polyps cause no problems, some types are cancerous. Because polyps can usually be eliminated if they are detected before becoming cancerous, it is important to be screened for colon polyps.

Screening for Polyps

• Colon polyps become progressively more likely as you age. From age 50 onward, you should be screened regularly for colon polyps. People who don't face a particularly high risk for colon polyps should have a stool test every year, a flexible sigmoidoscopy or a double-contrast barium enema every five years--or a colonoscopy every ten years.

  Some individuals inherit a predisposition for colon cancer. Genetic testing can identify whether you are at risk. If you are, screening should begin long before 50 so that polyps can be detected and removed before they become cancer. If your doctor finds colon polyps during your regular screening, you will need to have a colonoscopy to find and remove that and any other polyps in your colon. At this time, your doctor will also do a biopsy (take a sample of polyp and test whether it is cancerous tissue).

  Polyps that may become cancerous are called adenomatous polyps. Benign polyps are called hyperplastic polyps.

Removing the Average Polyp

• The vast majority of polyps can be identified and removed during a colonoscopy. This is usually done with a wire loop, which cuts the polyp and cauterizes the wound in one fell swoop. It may be enough to simply cauterize particularly small polyps. Some polyps are so small that they can't be removed. However, smaller polyps have a very low risk of cancer in patients who haven't inherited the polyp syndrome, even if they contain cancerous tissue. Colonoscopies have risks, albeit extremely rare ones. These risks include perforation of the colon, bleeding and an adverse reaction to sedatives.

Dealing with Larger Polyps

• Sessile polyps are those that attach to a large area of the colon wall. Generally larger and flatter than the usual polyp, these pose a greater risk of becoming cancer. An option for dealing with these is to surgically remove the polyp through many tiny incisions in the abdominal wall. Once a polyp has been removed from your colon, it can't re-grow in that area. However, your chances of developing more polyps in your colon are increased so continued screening is vital.

Cancerous Polyps

• While most colon polyps don't develop into cancer, adenomatous colon polyps (adenomas) become progressively more likely to become cancerous as they grow. Since colon cancer is among the leading causes of death in the United States, finding and removing the polyps before they turn into cancer is hugely valuable. If you've had adenomas, you should get a colonoscopy every three to five years in order to detect new growths. If your colon polyps are already cancerous when they're found, you will be treated for colorectal cancer.

Familial Polyposis

• The rules regarding colon polyp screening become stricter for people with familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP), an inherited disorder that predisposes the individual to colorectal cancer. Those with this condition may develop hyperplastic polyps before they reach 20. Even though these polyps wouldn't become cancerous in a normal individual, they will become cancerous in an individual with FAP. People with FAP usually develop colon cancer at around 40 years of age, ten years before an average person would need to begin screening.

  Attenuated familial adenomatous polyposis, a variant of FAP, means a slightly delayed onset of cancer, but only by ten to fifteen years. Another variant of this disorder, called autosomal recessive familial adenomatous polyposis, is milder in that fewer polyps develop over a lifetime but the tendency towards cancer still exists. Like any case of colon polyps, the frequency with which polyps appear in individuals with FAP increases with age. Due to the huge number of polyps that form--and the likelihood that they will develop into cancer--it is best for FAP patients to have their large intestine removed altogether. The rectum may then be connected to the small intestine. In many cases, this stops rectal polyps. However, this can't be counted on. For this reason, whatever remains of the rectum has to be checked for polyps about three times per year. If polyps persist, the rectum will have to be removed as well. In this case, the small intestine is connected to a hole in the abdomen, and waste must be eliminated into a bag.