Diagnosis and Management of Gastrointestinal Polyps: Pediatric Considerations

Painless, bright red, rectal bleeding with normal stool frequency and consistency is the hallmark presentation of colorectal polyps at any age. Most polyps in children are sporadic, usually isolated, colorectal juvenile polyps that do not require any further surveillance after they are removed. There is, however, increasing recognition of syndromes, including familial adenomatous polyposis, juvenile polyposis coli, Peutz-Jeghers syndrome, and infrequent conditions, such as PTEN hamartoma and hereditary mixed polyposis syndromes. The aim of this review is to allow the reader to correctly identify the patients who do not require follow-up and the smaller group of patients who do require follow-up because of syndromic polyp conditions.