Background: Colorectal polyps are mucosal growths that occur in the large intestines. The adenomatous variants are precursors of colorectal cancer which is the third and fourth most common cancer among males and females respectively.
Objectives: This study documents the frequency, distribution and histopathological characteristic of colorectal polyps in our centre.
Method: This was a 10-year retrospective study of colorectal polyps diagnosed in the Pathology laboratory of a tertiary hospital from 2007 to 2016. Archived histopathology slides were reviewed to confirm the diagnosis. Relevant clinical information was obtained from patients' request forms. Data were presented as mean, standard deviation, frequencies and percentages. Relationships between neoplastic polyps and age, gender and anatomic site were measured using Fishers exact test.
Result: There were 124 cases of colorectal polyps recorded. Of these, were 82 (66.0%) males and 42 (34.0%) females (M:F=1.9:1). The average age at presentation was 29.0 ±23.6 years. Highest frequency of 45(36.2%) cases was in the 1st decade of life. There were 87(70.0%) cases in distal colon/rectum while 37(30.0%) were in the proximal colon. Juvenile polyps had the highest frequency overall, (60 cases, 48.0%), followed by tubular adenoma (31 cases, 25.0%), hyperplasic polyp (11 cases, 8.9%), villous adenoma (9 cases,7.3%), inflammatory polyp (6 cases,4.8%), tubulo-villous adenoma (3 cases, 2.4%), retention polyp (2 cases, 1.6%) and sessile serrated polyp (2 cases, 1.6%). There were 43 (34.7%) cases of neoplastic polyps. The average age of patients with neoplastic polyps was 47.3 years and they are located mostly in proximal colon (23/37 cases) (P<0.05).
Conclusion: Colorectal polyps are common in our environment especially juvenile polyp encountered mostly in children. We recorded significantly lower prevalence, lower mean age at presentation of neoplastic polyps compared to Western populations. This highlights the need for earlier age screening colonoscopy to detect and treat premalignant polyps.