Familial intestinal polyposis is a relatively rare disease, characterized by the development within the colon and rectum of large numbers of adenomatous tumors.
The hereditary nature of the condition was first recognized by Harrison Cripps (1882), and Lockhart-Mummery (1952) reported the condition is a pre-cancerous disease, which is transmitted as a Mendelian dominant, non sex-linked trait with a high degree of penetrance, and its clinical manifestations. Dukes (1952) provided the modern-day basis for outstanding and management of this disease. The commonest sign is rectal bleeding which occurs in over three-fourths of the patients with the disease. Diarrhea and abdominal pain are noted in over one-half of the patients. Mucous discharge with or without blood has been noted in less than half of the patients with the disease.
In familial polyposis, polyps usually develop earlier than the adenomatous polyps, usually the age of 20. Cancer was diagnosed most frequently at the age of early fourth decades that is to say twenty years, or more earlier than other tumors. Multiple cancer is noted 12 times more than other colorectal cancers. According to the recent studies, the affected cases eventually have cancer, if they are not treated or died due to intercurrent diseases. So poor its prognosis, it must be differentiated from other multiple polyp conditions, and early radical removal, of the colon saves the life.
We experienced two cases of familial polyposis in these days, so report them, with the brief reviews of the literatures.
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