DO I HAVE TO DO COLON RESECTION OPERATION?
by ALBERT
(CALIFORNIA)
I am 60 years old. I did my first colonoscopy in March 2011. The doctor found a 2.0 cm polyp and he said it's not cancerous because the stalk and the margin of the polyp were so clean. He couldn't remove it during the colonoscopy at his office because it was large. In April he removed it in the hospital. The pathology report didn't come good. It said: "The surface of the polyp shows focal areas of hemorrhage. The polyp is bisected revealing a grossly unremarkable parenchyma." And added: "Clinical Diagnosis - Hematochezia. And the Microscopic Diagnosis: 30 cm from rectum moderately differentiated adenocarcinoma arising from villous adenoma."
The doctor considered this report unacceptable and incomplete, so he requested more information. The next report, the addendum report said: "The adenocarcinoma invades into the polyp stalk. There is no obvious stalk margin identified. It is impossible to evaluate whether the tumor is completely excised or not, based on the submitted specimen. Suggest clinical correlation."
My doctor said he is confident that he removed the polyp completely and cleaned very well that area but he suggested that I do a colon resection operation just to be sure.
I have appointment with a surgeon to do a colon resection operation. I didn't see the surgeon yet.
All the diagnosis is based on what was removed from my body, the polyp. And they couldn't identify the stalk’s margin. There were no tests done on the colon. I want to do a biopsy on the colon or stool DNA (sDNA) to determine whether cancerous cells were left behind or not. I don’t want to do the operation unless the findings on the colon itself suggest that. But also I’m afraid that it’s taking so long time. I first noticed blood in my stool in December 2010. Test result came just before Christmas, and the doctor office was closing till the first week of January 2011. I got the insurance authorization in January and the appointment for consultation for a colonoscopy in February, followed by the colonoscopy in March. Then the removal of the polyp at the hospital was done in April.
When I call a doctor for appointment, the first available appointment is always at least three weeks or more.
My question is: should I just do the operation without knowing for sure if it is necessary? As I said, the pathology report is not clear about the margin of the polyp and whether or not cancerous cells were left behind.
