bounce in my step

Good News

So the pathology report is back.

Two small polyps: Fragments of tubular adenoma. Negative for high-grade dysplasia or malignancy.

Large polyp ("mass"): Tubular adenoma with small foci of superficial high-grade dysplasia. No high-grade dysplasia is seen t the cauterized margin in the plane of sectioning, but it is not possible to fully evaluate all of the margins.

Translation:


"Dysplasia" means "unusual growth". It's the catch-all term for cells growing beyond their typical tissue type, whether a benign growth or a cancerous tumor. In the colon, dysplasias typically start as a polyp, which then becomes a mass, then may become cancerous, and in the more advanced stages, it may become aggressive and metastasize, which means it would spread to other parts of the body. That's the real danger.

"Adenoma" is a benign growth. It typically starts as low-grade. A low grade adenoma can exist for years and years without becoming troublesome, but the protocol is to remove such a dysplasia, based on the risk that it might transform into a carcinoma (cancerous tissue). The two small polyps that were found were purely low-risk benign adenomas. That's the best possible news for them. Not only no carcinoma found, but no high-grade dysplasia.

The larger mass, the one I was concerned about, shows only small amounts of high-grade dysplasia, and no signs of carcinoma. I.e., no cancerous tissue was found. The language about the margin means that there's a good chance that all of the high-grade dysplasia was removed. It is, however, not a certain thing.

The suggested course of action: a resection of that part of the colon. The region surrounding the removed mass would itself be removed, and the colon would be re-connected.

The large intestine is mostly just tubing. Its main function is to remove water from the remnants of food that have already made their way through the stomach and small intestine, where the removal of nutrients happens. And we have plenty of it. A removal of an inch or so of large intestine will be pretty much unimportant.

I'll have to find a surgery and schedule a surgery, but on the whole I'm very pleased with this report. I was slightly concerned that cancer would be found, but I was also concerned that something would be seen in one of the smaller polyps which would require a more extensive resection in two different parts of the intestine.

I should be able to get back to more entertaining blogging in the near future.

What do you Lego people think about this development?