polyp being snared

This is a large polyp in the colon. A polyp is a growth of tissue that can grow and become cancerous and, in fact, when this polyp was examined under the microscope, there were some cancerous cells in it. Polyps need to be removed, and that is why we do colonoscopies.

Polyp cautery site

This is the site where the previous polyp has been removed. We use a snare, which has a looped wire on the end, to grab the polyp. We then apply electrical current to burn off the polyps that there is no bleeding. From this photograph, we can see that the burn is quite deep and flushed with the wall of the colon. It was necessary to do this to get the entire polyp.