Surgical treatment of benign colorectal polyps 2008-21

Colorectal cancer is one of the most common forms of cancer in Norway, and typically develops from colorectal polyps. For benign colorectal polyps, endoscopic removal is recommended to avoid unnecessary surgery. This study identifies the extent of surgical treatment of benign polyps in the period 1 January 2008-31 December 2021.

We obtained statistics from the Norwegian Patient Registry on the surgical resection of benign colorectal polyps, number of colonoscopies performed and number of patients with the diagnostic code for benign polyp in the study period. Population size from Statistics Norway was used to calculate annual incidences of the procedure.

The number of patients with benign polyps increased from 211 per 100 000 population to 444 per 100 000 during the study period. The number of colonoscopies increased from 9.4 per 1 000 population to 16.7 per 1 000. The number of surgical resections of benign colorectal polyps per year increased from 4.2 per 100 000 population to 6.3 per 100 000. The total number of unique patients with benign polyps in the period was 215 736, of which 2.1 % received surgical treatment, with the figures varying from 2.0 % in 2008 to 1.6 % in 2021.

Our results show that surgical treatment of benign polyps is still widespread in Norway. This impacts on patient safety and health economics. We propose the establishment of multidisciplinary teams and enhanced endoscopic competence in Norwegian health trusts.