Why isn’t that sort of snare simply called a “normal snare?” That name seems odd.
Thank you for that clarification. I did not check into the definition for cold snare, assuming it was similar to the freezing done of skin cancers.
Why were so many things that looked like polyps not actual polyps, in your experience?
Not sure about the naming cold versus hot. As far as what the reason for removing tissue and sending for testing: It varies. There was one doc who I worked with who was exceedingly careful and thorough. Having worked with her extensively for years, I know her goal was to give the most though study for the patient. Sometimes, she would take over an hour for a colonoscopy and 30 minutes for an esophogastroduodenoscopy (upper). She sent more tissue to the lab than 5 or 6 other docs for the same number of procedures. I am certain that she wanted the best for the patient. I trust her totally. There are other docs who took many biopsies because they were encouraged by the gastroenterology group to do so...they made money on the biopsies. The docs won’t admit that is the reason but whenever they hired new doctors, the new doctors mentioned that they were encouraged to send specimens for testing. On the flip side, over time, your GI tract is going to change naturally and due to what you eat, drink, what drugs and chemicals you are exposed to...so the lining will probably have tissue that “looks” different. If a practitioner rarely takes biopsies, it could mean that they are working too fast and are overlooking something that could be a problem. That’s why the other staff assisting in the procedure are very important. We frequently told doctors that something needed to be removed completely or biopsied. And, if something clearly did not need to be biopsied, we would let the doctor know. There was one doctor who should have retired at least 10 years before he did...he would fall asleep during the colonoscopies: the scope tech would push the scope in and pull it out (highly illegal)...when we found something, we would wake him up...the RN would take the biopsy and tell the doctor what the location was, what it was we were removing and what size it was...then fill out the data in the computer. The doctor could not perform the procedures without an extraordinary amount of help...but none of his cohorts would make him retire. It was pretty sad. He wasn’t a bad person...just could not give up what he was doing.