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Charlotte Hilton Andersen
Feb 11, 2024
“Not all colon polyps are cancerous but all colon cancer starts as a polyp which is why everyone needs to know about them and be screened regularly for them,” says Fola May, MD, a gastroenterologist and associate professor of medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and the director of Fight Colorectal Cancer. “And colorectal cancer is the second-leading cancer killer of men and women combined.”
Yikes! OK, we’re listening…but what are polyps, exactly? Colon polyps are growths that occur on the inner lining of the large intestine (colon), or the rectum (which comprises the last six inches of the G.I. system before the body expels solid waste). Polyps vary in size and shape, ranging from small, flat bumps to larger, mushroom-shaped growths.