DIAGNOSIS
Your doctor will do a physical exam and obtain a medical history. Then they may request for imaging studies like X-rays, ultrasound, or a CT scan to observe for the polyp’s characteristics and activity.
When you have a polyp, your doctor might need to do a biopsy. This is to check whether the lump is cancerous or not.
Other tests may include the following, depending on where the polyps may be found:
- Pap test for vagina or cervical polyps
- Endoscopy for the stomach and other parts of the gastrointestinal system
- A colonoscopy for polyps situated in the large bowel
TREATMENT
A few polyps won’t require treatment, particularly if your doctor says they aren’t cancerous. Throat polyps can disappear with rest and voice treatment. As for other polyps, you doctor may remove them when they have a risk for cancer.
Treatment for polyps relies upon the following:
- Whether there are cancer cells in the polyp
- How many polyps are there
- Location
- Size
In colorectal polyps, a doctor may expel the polyps during a colonoscopy. A colonoscopy is the process at which your doctor inserts a tube with a camera to view your colon.
Your doctor may recommend hormonal treatment like progesterone and gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonists for polyps found in the reproductive system. These medications will advise your body to make more hormones to contract or decrease the polyps.
Steroid tablets or sprays may treat nasal polyps.
Your doctor will utilize the safest treatment before selecting careful interventions.