Clinical and Medical Case Reports

Juvenile Rectal and Sigmoid Colon Polyps Treated Endoscopically: A Series of Cases Seen at St. Francis Hospital Nsambya, Uganda

Abstract

Francis Basimbe*, Ronald Olum, Ignatius Kakande and Hakim Din Iman

Juvenile polyps are common benign mucosal lesions in the gastrointestinal tract, with the colon being a frequently affected site. This case series examined three pediatric patients who underwent endoscopic polypectomy for juvenile polyps in a tertiary hospital. The objective was to analyze their presentation, management and outcomes. The patients in this series all presented with rectal bleeding, which aligns with previous studies highlighting rectal bleeding as the most common symptom in juvenile polyps. Interestingly, none of the patients experienced associated abdominal pain, consistent with findings from studies conducted in Asia. Notably, all the children in this series presented more than a year after the onset of rectal bleeding, indicating a longer duration compared to studies from Asia, where the average was 7.6 months. Endoscopic polypectomy, explicitly using the cold snare technique, was successfully performed in all cases without any reported complications. This procedure involves the removal of polyps during an endoscopic examination, followed by a histopathological examination to assess the risk of malignancy. The findings from this examination guide further surveillance or treatment. In this case series, all the juvenile polyps presented with Rectal bleeding with no associated abdominal pain and all were left-sided and presented after over a year of rectal bleeding and cold snare. Endoscopic polypectomy was used safely in their management with no reported complications in our setting.