How do gastrointestinal polyps develop?

The main cause of gastrointestinal polyps is long-term inflammation of the gastric mucosa, which leads to proliferative lesions. The more common diseases include chronic gastritis, duodenal ulcer or gastric ulcer. For example, gastritis caused by Helicobacter pylori can easily lead to the appearance of gastrointestinal polyps. Of course, this is also related to bad living habits, such as long-term medication, frequent smoking and drinking, drinking strong tea and coffee, etc.

How do gastrointestinal polyps develop?

Gastric polyps mainly refer to polyp-like lesions caused by proliferation of gastric mucosal epithelial or interstitial components. Normal gastric mucosa shows polyp-like changes in the cavity due to atrophy of the mucosal periphery. In the case of hyperplastic changes, the thickened mucosa may show polyp-like changes. Hyperplastic changes may also show localized or diffuse polyp-like changes. There are many causes of gastric polyps, such as: long-term use of large amounts of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, smoking, long-term drinking of strong tea, strong liquor, eating too hot or too cold and too rough food, heart failure, immune factors, etc. Gastric polyps are often asymptomatic in the early stages or without complications. When symptoms occur, they often manifest as upper abdominal pain, bloating, discomfort, and in a few cases, nausea and vomiting may occur. Gastric polyps can be single or multiple. The treatment for gastric polyps is usually laser resection under direct vision through a gastroscope. After the operation, the original stomach discomfort symptoms will disappear completely, and the patient will recover well without any discomfort. Gastric polyps are a more serious stomach disease. To prevent them from becoming malignant, those who experience stomach discomfort and are diagnosed with gastric polyps must seek treatment early.

How to keep gastric polyps away from gastric cancer?

There are two types of gastric polyps. One is called adenomatous polyp, which is composed of densely arranged, crowded, and hyperplastic glands. Due to varying degrees of atypical hyperplasia, the canceration rate can reach 10%-30%, and is called "precancerous lesions." The other type is called hyperplastic polyp, also called inflammatory polyp or regenerative polyp. It is a type of glandular hyperplasia and elongation with a disordered arrangement. There are large gaps between the glands, and some contain immature cells in the middle. The vast majority of cases do not have atypical hyperplasia, and the canceration rate is only 0.4%. In addition, there are polyposis that are different from gastric polyps, such as juvenile polyposis, which have no tendency to malignancy; diffuse polyposis, with a canceration rate of up to 20%; and hereditary polyposis.

Generally speaking, gastric polyps are very small, less than one centimeter in size. Hyperplastic polyps are basically benign lesions. Only in a few people, once hyperplastic polyps grow larger, they can cause symptoms such as indigestion, abdominal pain and discomfort, upper gastrointestinal bleeding, and may also become cancerous. Although adenomatous polyps are prone to cancer, they can also be prevented. If symptoms such as upper abdominal discomfort, pain, nausea, loss of appetite or black stools occur, a gastroscopy should be performed in time and the polyps should be removed by electrocautery. In order to prevent gastric polyps from becoming cancerous, you should have a gastroscopy once a year to remove the polyps completely. In addition, we should strengthen self-care, control our eating and drinking, and try not to add burden to our stomach. As long as everyone remains vigilant, stomach cancer can be kept at bay.

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