Print this topic

HealthInfo Waitaha Canterbury

Bowel polyps

Ngene terotero

Illustration showing a healthy bowel with no polyps and a bowel that has polyps (tiny growths)Bowel polyps are growths on the lining of your large bowel or rectum.

Most people with polyps do not have any symptoms. They only know they have polyps after an investigation such as a colonoscopy.

Your bowel can have different types of polyps. Most polyps are not cancer (benign) and do not grow into a cancer. But some polyps called adenomas are precancerous and can grow into a cancer if they are left alone. If we remove a precancerous polyp, we can prevent bowel cancer.

 

  HealthInfo recommends the following pages

Written by HealthInfo clinical advisers. Last reviewed May 2024.

Sources

See also:

Bowel surgery

National Bowel Screening Programme

Page reference: 136659

Review key: HIBOP-136659