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> If the endoscopist discovers a suspicious polyp, then it’s promptly removed, thus nipping the cancer before it spreads So, kind of like how pruning a plant d
by pazimzadeh 4y ago
> If the endoscopist discovers a suspicious polyp, then it’s promptly removed, thus nipping the cancer before it spreads
So, kind of like how pruning a plant does not necessarily weaken it.
- Findecanor 4y agoWhen the polyp has been nipped, it is gone. If you have a colon with no polyps (left) in it, you should be safe from colon cancer for at least a decade (how long polyps take to develop from mutation into a tumour).
- pazimzadeh 4y agoIf that's the case, then why was there no difference in mortality in the study? Possible reasons I thought of: - cancer cells metastasize/spread much earlier than we previously thought (https://www.statnews.com/2016/12/14/cancer-cells-spread-metastases/ https://www.statnews.com/2016/12/14/cancer-cells-spread-meta...) - what if the presence of polyps is not all bad? i.e. maybe they keep the immune system in a tumor-responsive state, or they locally deplete nutrients that would otherwise feed other pre-cancerous cells?