Each year in the United States, more than 150,000 people are diagnosed with colorectal cancer, which is a very serious and sometimes life-threatening group of diseases. There is a bright spot hidden in this statistic — diagnoses and deaths from colorectal cancers are steadily declining thanks to screening efforts.

When the team here at Fairfax Colon & Rectal Surgery screens our patients for colon cancer or rectal cancer, we prefer to do so through the colonoscopy, and the reason why comes down to colon polyps.

Here’s a look at a few things that we want you to know about colon polyps.

1. Different types of colon polyps

When we refer to polyps, we’re referring to tissue growths along the inner lining of your colon and/or rectum that can range in size from a tiny kernel or rice to something the size of a quarter, or larger. These abnormal growths occur in about 15%-40% of adults, so they’re far from uncommon. 

There are two types of polyps:

• Non-neoplastic — growths that aren’t associated with cancer
• Neoplastic — precancerous growths, such as adenomas 

Even if we find neoplastic polyps during your colonoscopy, it doesn’t mean that you have colorectal cancer — far from it. For example, with adenomas, there’s about a 5%-10% chance that the growth will turn into cancer.

Our point here is that having the presence of colon polyps does NOT automatically mean that you have cancer, but these growths do have the potential to move in that direction.

2. Risk factors for colon polyps

Given that up to 40% of adults have colon polyps, it makes sense that there are a wide range of risk factors, such as:

• A family history of colorectal cancer
• Age — polyps are more common among people aged 50 and older
• Having an inflammatory intestinal disease, such as Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis
• A history of smoking
• Having obesity

Even lifestyle habits, such as lack of exercise or eating too much fat, can heighten your risk for colon polyps.

3. A colonoscopy is your first line of defense

As we already mentioned, the reason why colorectal cancer numbers are going down is due to screening efforts. When we perform a colonoscopy, we look for — and remove — any polyps that we find. Not only does this allow us to test these growths for cancer, we’re also able to prevent the growths from becoming cancerous down the road.

In other words, we’re removing the biggest risk factor for colorectal cancer — early growths in the form of colon polyps. This is why we want to screen starting at the age of 45: the larger a polyp gets, the bigger the chance that it becomes precancerous or cancerous. So, with regular screening, we stay one step ahead of all growths inside your lower intestinal tract by removing them before they grow in both size and number.

The bottom line is that colon polyps aren’t necessarily problematic, but they can potentially become so, which we can offset through regular screening.

If you have more questions about colon polyps or you’d like to schedule your colonoscopy to check for these growths, please contact one of our offices in Fairfax, Fair Oaks, Alexandria, Gainesville, Woodbridge, or Lansdowne, Virginia, to schedule an appointment.