Huge bilharzial polyp mimicking colon cancer

Abstract

Bilharziasis (Schistosomiasis) is the third devastating tropical disease globally and is endemic in many countries including Egypt. The pathology of chronic colonic schistosomiasis results from egg-induced immune response, granuloma formation, and associated fibrotic changes that may manifest as bloody diarrhea, cramping, and, eventually, inflammatory colonic polyposis. Huge polyps complicating schistosomiasis are not frequently reported in the literature. Also, huge polyps as a sole manifestation of intestinal bilharziasis are rather rarely reported. Here, we report an Egyptian male patient who presented with bleeding per rectum with a huge polyp on colonoscopy, with morphological traits that mimicked colon cancer and proved to be of bilharzial etiology after surgical excision.