Does The Doctor Performing The Colonoscopy Have An Idea If A Polyp Is Cancerous By Sight?

Posted on Mon, 27 Jul 2020

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Mon, 27 Jul 2020 Answered on

Tue, 12 Aug 2025 Last reviewed on

Question : I had a colonoscopy today, and the doctor removed a large polyp. he sent it out for a biopsy but said he felt it was somtheing I shouldn't be concerned about. Can they have an idea of the likelihood of it being cancerous just by looking at it?
I know that to get the real answer I need to wait for the biopsy, but my question is
Does the Doctor performing the colonoscopy have an idea if a polyp is cancerous by sight?

Answered by Dr. Ramesh Kumar (1 hour later)

Brief Answer:
Yes but no one can predict it 100% accurately.

Detailed Answer:
Hi and thank you for choosing "Ask a Doctor" service,
Have seen your details,
Yes a guess could be made upon the benign/malignant nature of polyp by it's number(Benign are solitary),size(Benign less then 5 mm usually),bleeding on removal (Small amount of vascularity in benign)etc.
For example less then 5 mm polyp are usually Benign as said earlier.

But as explained these are just guesses and a true nature could be reflected only by Biopsy.
So yes chill down very likely it's benign but 100% assurance can be given only by Biopsy results.
Follow ups are welcome,
Thanks!

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Raju A.T