Bowel polyps in children | Colon polyps

Bowel polyps in children

Individual intestinal polyps can also occur spontaneously in children without a recognizable cause, although this is generally rather rare. If many intestinal polyps occur in children, it is usually an inherited intestinal disease, such as familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) or familial juvenile polyposis. Symptoms of intestinal polyps in children include pain during bowel movements, frequent abdominal pain and blood in the stool or diaper. A pediatrician should be consulted for clarification of the symptoms. If intestinal polyps are suspected, a colonoscopy is performed under general anesthesia, even in small children.

Types of colon polyps

There are different types of colon polyps. A rough distinction can be made between neoplastic and non-neoplastic polyps. Non-neoplastic polyps include inflammatory polyps.

These occur, for example, as so-called pseudopolyps in chronic inflammatory bowel diseases such as ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease. The group of hyperplastic polyps also belongs to the non-neoplastic polyps. They are usually small (3-5 mm) and often occur in multiples.

This means that several of these polyps are present. Hyperplastic polyps of the size mentioned are usually benign. A neoplasia is a new formation of tissue.

The group of neoplastic polyps mainly includes adenomas. In principle, all adenomas carry the risk of malignant degeneration, i.e. they can develop into a malignant tumor. How high the risk is depends on the type of adenoma.

Three types can be distinguished. The most common are the tubular adenomas, which make up about 70% of adenomas in the colon. If they are less than 1 cm in size, they have a degeneration risk of about 1%.

From a size of more than 1 cm the risk of degeneration can increase up to 50%. The second form are the villous adenomas. They make up about 10% of the adenomas in the colon.

The risk of degeneration is 20-40%. The third form of adenomas is a mixture of the tubular and the villous adenoma, the so-called tubulovillous adenoma. It accounts for about 20% of all colon polyps.