President Has Benign Growth : ‘Pseudo-Polyp’ in Colon Doesn’t Alarm Doctors

Doctors have discovered what they described as a small and benign “pseudo-polyp” in President Reagan’s colon, and laboratory tests revealed the possibility of small amounts of blood in stool samples, the White House disclosed Monday.

But doctors expressed no alarm over the results of a battery of tests, which they conducted last Friday at Bethesda Naval Hospital, and they pronounced the President to be in “excellent” condition.

The pseudo-polyp, similar to one that doctors removed from the President’s colon last May, was described as about the same size as that four-millimeter growth and about five centimeters farther into the colon.

White House spokesman Larry Speakes said the new growth is associated with diverticulosis, a condition in which the walls of the colon, weakened in older persons, develop bulges or sacs, and adjacent areas become inflamed or form scar tissue. Reagan is 74.

Last week’s examination found no evidence of the fibroid polyp removed last year, and Speakes said that the small inflammatory pseudo-polyp found in the latest examination usually does not become malignant. However, if such polyps grow a great deal larger than the one found in the President, they can become cancerous.

Previous physical examinations have noted that Reagan has diverticulosis. Although it sometimes causes intestinal pain in some individuals, Speakes said Reagan’s condition has produced no symptoms.

Of four highly sensitive laboratory tests of Reagan’s stool samples, Speakes said two were positive and two were negative.

Diet a Possibility

If further tests confirm the presence of blood, Speakes said, it may be a result of inflammation associated with the diverticulosis or perhaps from undiscovered polyps. But Speakes said physicians did not rule out the possibility that the indication of blood had been produced by Reagan’s diet. Meat and certain vegetables in the diet can cause a false positive result of the test, just as if the patient’s own blood were in the stool sample.

To settle the issue, Speakes said, the President will go on a diet recommended by the American Cancer Society. He could remain on it for as long as several weeks, depending on how long it takes physicians to check further for the presence of blood and determine its source.

“President Reagan continues to enjoy good health,” Dr. Walter Karney, who headed the team conducting the tests, said in a statement released by the White House. “His overall physical and mental condition is excellent. I am especially impressed with the fact that his blood pressure is lower than a year ago--this is quite remarkable.” The report by the team of nine physicians said the results of all the tests, ranging from an eye examination to a stress test and pulmonary function test, “were in the normal range.”