Small colon polyps.

One thousand forty-eight small (up to 6 mm) colorectal polyps, removed during colonoscopy, have been analyzed. Sixty-one percent of these small polyps were neoplastic, the remainder being equally divided between hyperplastic polyps and polypoid mucosa with normal-appearing glands. The number of polyps was evenly distributed throughout the colon. Proximally, neoplastic polyps predominated, accounting for 73% of all polyps in the right colon. This was reversed in the distal colon where non-neoplastic polyps comprised 65% of all polyps in the rectum. The incidence of carcinoma was extremely low in small colon polyps, 0.1%. All polyps should be removed when encountered during colonoscopy due to the high prevalence of adenomas among small colon polyps.