Abstract
Three hundred ninty four patients who had 708 neoplastic polyps including 45 early carcinomas were followed by repeat colonoscopy. The median period of follow-up observation was 22 months. In 178 (45.2%) patients, 252 adenomatous polyps were newly found endoscopically during the whole follow-up period. The polyps in the initial polypectomy group were located in the sigmoid colon and rectum more commonly (52.4%). However, 252 newly detected polyps in follow-up group were distributed evenly in the entire colon and 88.2% of them were 6 mm or less than 6 mm in diameter. 216 patients had no polyps detected in follow-up examinations. 47 patients had a few polyps but they do not have any polyps finally because of the repeat polypectomy. As a result, endoscopic polypectomy was considered to have a great effect on the number, the anatomical distribution and the size of the polyps detected in follow-up observation. Therefore, endoscopic polypectomy for neoplastic polyps including carcinomas will be able to prevent from the occurrence of colorectal carcinomas.
