Diagnosis and prognosis of malignant colonic adenoma: methodologic implications

The subsequent management of patients with endoscopically removed malignant colorectal polyps depends on the pathologist's diagnosis. According to the correlation with clinical outcome previously published, the histological criteria of potential adverse outcome are: the presence of tumour at or near the resection margins, the invasion of colonic submucosa, the lymphatic invasion and the high grade of malignancy. This article aims at providing guidelines for an adequate examination of the polyp specimen and an unambiguous pathology reporting.