Your colonoscopist will discuss the biopsy results with you once a report has been received from the pathologist, which is usually within a week. At that meeting, it is important to find out the number, size, and pathology of any polyps detected and when you should schedule your next colonoscopy.
The pathologist typically sends a pathology report to the doctor within 10 days after the biopsy or surgery is performed.
How long does it take for a polyp to turn into cancer? The growth and mutation of colon polyps into cancer is a slow process, taking an estimated 10 years on average. So as long as patients are screened, it is unlikely they will develop cancerous polyps.
The procedure takes between 20 minutes to one hour.
The entire polyp will be sent to a pathology laboratory for histology. Polyp cannot be entirely removed? It will typically get biopsied during the colonoscopy, and your doctor will send the tissue to the pathology laboratory to determine the histology.
In most cases, no. Your doctor can't usually tell, simply by looking at a polyp during a colonoscopy, if it's cancerous. But if a polyp is found during your colonoscopy, your doctor will remove it and send it to a lab for a biopsy to check for cancerous or precancerous cells.
You should get a letter or a call with your results 2 to 3 weeks after a colonoscopy.
Getting your results
Before you go home, your doctor tells you if they removed any growths (polyps) or tissue samples (biopsies) from your bowel. The biopsy results can take up to 2 weeks. Your specialist writes to you with the results. If your GP referred you for the test, they should also receive a copy.
A gastroenterologist, the specialist who usually performs a colonoscopy, can't tell for certain if a colon polyp is precancerous or cancerous until it's removed and examined under a microscope.
Your doctor can tell if a colon polyp is cancerous during a colonoscopy by collecting tissue to biopsy. The results of the biopsy are typically sent to your doctor within a week. Only 5% to 10% of all polyps become cancerous.
If a polyp has cancerous cells, they will also biopsy nearby lymph nodes to determine if the cancer has spread or metastasized to other areas of the body. In this case radiation, chemotherapy or other therapies may be recommended. Colonoscopy screenings can be life saving!
The removed polyp tissue is checked for cancer by looking at it under a microscope. If cancer cells are found, surgery might be needed because the cancer may have spread beyond the polyp. But if your provider thinks the cancer is only in the polyp that was removed and hasn't spread, you may not need surgery.
While the majority of colon cancers start as polyps, only 5-10% of all polyps will become cancerous. The size of a polyp typically does make a difference. The larger the polyp becomes, the bigger the risk of it developing into colon cancer.
Most colorectal cancers start as polyps, however, not all polyps turn into cancer. A doctor will often remove polyps once they are detected, usually during a colonoscopy. They will usually send these polyps off for a biopsy to test them for cancer.
If your doctor finds one or two polyps less than 0.4 inch (1 centimeter) in diameter, he or she may recommend a repeat colonoscopy in 7 to 10 years, depending on your other risk factors for colon cancer. Your doctor will recommend another colonoscopy sooner if you have: More than two polyps.
Depending on their size and location in the colon, serrated polyps may become cancerous. Small, serrated polyps in the lower colon, also known as hyperplastic polyps, are rarely malignant. Larger serrated polyps, which are typically flat (sessile), difficult to detect and located in the upper colon, are precancerous.
Processing time
Often, there are technical reasons for delays in reporting results. For instance, certain types of body tissues take longer to process than others. Bone and other hard tissues that contain a lot of calcium need special handling.
The pathology report may be ready in as soon as two or three days after the biopsy is taken. If additional testing of the tissue is necessary, the report may take longer to complete (between seven and 14 days). Pathology reports are written in technical language using many medical terms.
Adenomas: Many colon polyps are the precancerous type, called adenomas. It can take seven to 10 or more years for an adenoma to evolve into cancer—if it ever does. Overall, only 5% of adenomas progress to cancer, but your individual risk is hard to predict. Doctors remove all the adenomas they find.
If your colonoscopy results list a positive finding, this means your doctor spotted a polyp or other abnormality in the colon. This is very common, and not a reason to panic. Most polyps are harmless, and your doctor probably removed it during the colonoscopy. Some polyps, however, can be cancerous or precancerous.
However, some polyps found during screening colonoscopies cannot safely be removed during the procedure. These so-called complex polyps are considered difficult, because they are either too large, too flat, or located in an area that makes them unsuitable for conventional removal.
They look like bumps growing from the inside lining of the bowel protruding out. They sometimes grow on a “stalk” and look like mushrooms. Some polyps can be flat. People can have several polyps scattered in different parts of the colon.
A colon polyp is a small clump of cells that forms on the lining of the colon. Most colon polyps are harmless. But over time, some colon polyps can develop into colon cancer. Colon cancer can be fatal when found in its later stages.