Adenomatous polyps: symptoms and treatment

Probably, each of us experiences unpleasant sensations bordering on fear after hearing the diagnosis of "malignant tumor". All over the world, scientists are struggling to figure out where it comes from and how to treat it with a 100% guarantee, but alas, until the results are disappointing. The diagnosis of "adenomatous polyp" sounds not so gloomy, and few who are not connected with medicine can explain what it is. But meanwhile this illness is considered a precancerous condition, therefore it is extremely dangerous. Those who have it discovered need to take immediate action to maintain health, and possibly their lives.

Characteristics of polyps

At its core, polyps in the human body are a portion of the mucous membrane that has grown for some reason. That is, they can appear in any organ covered with mucous membranes. According to medical statistics, an adenomatous polyp, otherwise referred to as an adenoma and representing a benign tumor, causes a lot of trouble. The definition of "benign" means that in some place the bodies suddenly began to divide cells uncontrollably, but while they completely or partially retain the functions of the affected organ or tissue and do not give metastasis. It is this important feature that gives a chance to completely cure them. Therefore, adenomatous polyp is not yet a sentence. However, without taking action, most benign tumors become malignant. So, polyps, the sizes of which have reached only 1 cm, contain with a high probability invasive cancer cells, that is, those that already metastasize. True, the small size of the build-up does not give a 100% guarantee of safety, since there are cases when the cancer developed from a single polyp villus.

Classification

Mucous membranes in humans are multilayered and depending on the organ they cover, they have a different epithelium in structure. The adenoma grows on those mucous membranes, the epithelium of which is represented by the glandular structure, that is, it includes many glands. Proceeding from this, polyps can appear in the stomach, in the gallbladder, in the intestine, in the organs of the genitourinary system.

In addition to the location, there are a number of their classification criteria:

1. By type of base: on legs (stalk) or on a wide platform (sessile). It is believed that the metastatic sedentary adenomatous polyp starts up faster. The photo above shows how a large sessile polyp looks on the intestinal wall.

2. In size: small, medium, large. While adenomas are less than 1 cm, they have the least chance of becoming malignant. Conversely, among adenomas more than 1 cm, about 13% have cancer cells, and more than 2 cm the probability of degeneration into cancer is already 51%.

3. In appearance: spherical, oval, mushroom-shaped, dense, soft.

4. Localization: single, nested, multiple. The latter degenerate into cancer approximately 2 times more often.

Morphological signs

Adenomatous polyps of the intestine, stomach, absolutely all organs are arranged differently, which strongly affects the prognosis of recovery. They are such:

1. The glands. They consist of a multitude of glands and a connective tissue rich in blood vessels. They are divided into benign, with signs of atypia (the cells lose their shape, their nuclei tighten) and with the malingling (atypical cells and glands are immersed in the muscular and submucosal layers of the epidermis, that is, in fact, are preparing for metastasis).

2. They are insecticides. These polyps are externally velvety, similar to the heads of cauliflower, often have a rough surface. The probability of mating is higher than 60%.

3. The glandular-villous.

4. Hyperplastic. Very small, soft, preserve the normal structure of the mucosa.

5. Juvenile. Not malingering, consist of cystic glands and dense stroma.

6. Fibrous. In the stroma, there are many considerably enlarged vessels, which is why they resemble inflammatory infiltration.

7. False.

Causes of appearance

Why polyps start to grow, while there are no exact answers. Some scientists believe that they appear in people in old age, others refute it. Statistics show that in young children the chance to detect adenoma is 28%, in people under 30 years old it is 30%, and in elderly over 70 years - only 12.8%. The maximum number of adenomas is 40-50 years.

That is, the adenomatous polyp of the rectum or other organ can appear in a person of any age, even in infants (a case of stalk polyp diagnosis in a 2-month-old crumb in the stomach is known). To the most probable reasons, scientists attribute:

- Pathology in embryonic development;

- heredity (in children whose parents have had an adenoma, the likelihood of getting it is about 2 times higher);

- inflammatory processes in the gastrointestinal tract (gastritis, colitis, dysentery, problems with defecation and others);

- malnutrition;

- Disruption of regeneration of the mucous membranes of the stomach and intestines after the effects.

Adenomatous stomach polyp

This organ is in the first place according to the predisposition to the appearance of adenomas. According to one of the classifications based on morphological signs, these types of polyps of the stomach are diagnosed:

- tubular;

- papillary;

- Mixed (papillotubular).

They are located in the stomach unevenly. Thus, in its upper third of the 2,241 patients surveyed, polyps were found in 2.1%, in the middle third, these figures reached 17%, and in the lower third were already 66.8% of pathologies.

The development of malignant tumors in the stomach occurs according to such a simplified scheme: the normal epithelium - the formation of the polyp - the overgrowth of it into the carcinoma - the cancer. More often such a scenario develops in two years, a maximum of three, but there are isolated cases when people lived with polypos for about 20 years.

The causes of the appearance of adenomas in the stomach are common - heredity, pathologies in development at the level of the embryo, inflammatory diseases, mainly gastritis, harmful food, alcoholism, chronic gastrointestinal diseases. Also, according to scientists, the growth of mucous in the stomach is facilitated by various neuropsychic disorders.

Symptoms

There is no single clinical picture indicating that the adenomatous polyp has grown in the stomach. Symptoms of each patient are always individual. Among the most common ones we can distinguish:

- pain syndrome (up to 88.6%);

- a feeling that the stomach is already full, even after consuming minimal amounts of food;

- decreased appetite;

- belching;

- nausea;

- increased salivation;

- flatulence;

- Heartburn;

- an unpleasant aftertaste in the oral cavity.

Pain more often appears after eating and lasts a couple of hours, then subsides.

In addition to the symptoms characteristic of polyps, patients have common signs that the body has problems. It is fatigue, weakness, sometimes temperature, insomnia, headache, unjustified depression.

There are extragastric symptoms, according to which it is possible to suspect the presence of polyposis, especially if it is hereditary. It spots on the skin (around the lips, nose, cheeks, chest, palms, back, stomach, neck) in the form of freckles, in any weather and in any season not changing its appearance.

Diagnostics

Adenomatous polyp in any organ is almost impossible to detect without hardware diagnostics. For the stomach, it includes:

- Ultrasound;

- X-ray with a dense liquid of barium (effectively about 4.6% of cases);

- Gastroscopy;

- Fibrogastroscopy;

- biopsy;

- gastrolaparoscopy.

No less important are laboratory tests of gastric juice, blood and reactions to latent blood in the contents of the stomach.

The maximum result is given by several methods at once.

Adenomatous polyps of large intestine

This ailment is on the second "honorable" place after polyposis of the stomach. According to statistics, polyps in the large intestine are recorded with such frequency:

- women - 46%;

- Men - 53%.

Dependence of the development of the disease on age is as follows:

- patients from 41 to 60 years old - 56%;

- from 31 to 40 years - 23%;

- from 14 to 30 years - 10%.

The degeneration of polyps into a malignant tumor has some dependence on their number. So, if in the rectum 5 or more of these formations, they grow into cancer in 100% of cases.

In the colon, polyps are also distributed unevenly. Thus, 13% of all cases are recorded in the ascending part, 13.5% in the transverse ridge, 73.5% in the sigmoid part and rectum. The causes of the appearance of polyps in the intestine are about the same as when they occur in the stomach, but the priority of the physician is given to inflammatory diseases. Thus, among 455 examined patients who had polyps, 30% suffered chronic ailments (colitis, proctosigmoiditis and others), and 16.4% had dysentery. A major role belongs to irrational nutrition. For this reason, colitis is detected in more than 50% of cases.

Symptoms and diagnosis of polyps in the intestine

Characteristic signs only for polyposis of the intestine do not. Often a long time patients do not feel any signs that they have started to grow adenomatous polyp. The most typical symptoms of the disease:

- blood in the feces (89%);

- with the development of the disease, bleeding may occur at or after defecation;

- diarrhea or constipation (55.2%);

- pain in the peritoneum;

- burning and / or itching in the anus (up to 65%);

- Anemia (7%);

- nausea;

- Heartburn;

- headache;

- belching;

- flatulence;

- pain in the rectum, giving back and sacrum.

Diagnosis includes palpation, ultrasound, radiography, sigmoidoscopy, contact beta radiometry, colonoscopy, fibrocolonoscopy, laboratory tests.

Polyps in the gallbladder

Adenomatous polyp of the gallbladder is a rare disease that occurs in less than 1% of all patients with polyposis. According to statistics, more often the disease affects people after 45 years. The gallbladder is a very small organ, in adults it is only 14 cm in length and up to 5 cm in width. In structure it resembles a small bag with thin walls, a broader body, a tapering neck and a very narrow part, from which the bile duct originates. The most difficult situation is the location of polyps in the cervix or duct. At the same time, the output of bile is blocked in the intestine, and the patients have icteric skin and eye proteins. In addition to this symptom, there are other signs that the gallbladder may have had a polyp:

- aching pains;

- Renal colic;

- nausea (especially in the morning);

- bitterness in the mouth;

- a digestive disorder.

The causes of the disease can be inflammation of the bile and its mucous membranes, improper metabolism, irrational nutrition, heredity.

Diagnosis is carried out using ultrasound, ultrasonography. The treatment is mainly surgical, consisting in the removal of the gallbladder. Only in certain cases the doctor can prescribe medications instead of surgery - "Ursosana" or "Ursofalka".

Treatment

Depending on the location, size and other characteristics, the doctor prescribes the treatment of adenomatous polyps. If it is found in the stomach, only surgical treatment is possible, since no drugs will force the polyp to grow back. Tablets only briefly improve the overall picture, but do not reduce the risk of degeneration of the tumor into cancer. If a single polyp is found, only the polyp is removed, and if there are multiple growths, the stomach is resected.

Another method of treatment is polypectomy with the help of an endoscope. It is indicated for stalk polyps with a size of 0.5 cm and consists in their removal by means of a metal loop. In some cases, it is performed on an outpatient basis. A biopsy after this operation is mandatory. The same methods of treating polyps in the small and large intestine. In the rectum, if the adenoma is detected at a distance of up to 10 cm from the anus, it may be excised under local anesthesia.

Minor growths are removed by electrocoagulation.

Among modern methods of treatment, indications can be offered to remove polyps by laser, electrical impulses or radio waves.

In any case, after exposure, the patient is assigned a strict diet.

There is an opinion that benign polyps in the large intestine can be cured with enemas with celandine, which need to be done 25-30 per course. The solution is prepared as follows: 50 grams of green leaves and stems to twist in a meat grinder, pour 300 ml of boiling water, wait until it cools down, drain. 2 hours before the enema, a cleansing enema is made. The solution of celandine should keep the patient within up to 1.5 hours, and children - up to 30 minutes. The procedures are carried out every other day.

Importantly: in many patients this method did not justify itself, and they had to do surgery to remove polyps that had grown into malignant tumors.