Reagan Polyps Not Cancerous, Tests Confirm

Laboratory tests on the two polyps removed from President Reagan’s colon during a semiannual medical examination confirmed they were not cancerous, the White House announced Saturday.

The tiny growths were clipped from the intestinal wall Friday afternoon during a colonoscopic examination performed at the White House physician’s office.

Mark Weinberg, an assistant White House press secretary, said Reagan was informed of the results Saturday afternoon at Camp David, Md., where he is spending the weekend, and “he was pleased.”

“He feels great,” Weinberg said.

Army Col. John Hutton, the President’s physician, said the microscopic pathological tests confirmed the preliminary findings reached Friday. “Final laboratory analysis of the two small polyps removed from the President yesterday confirmed both to be benign,” Hutton said in a statement.

The regular medical examinations probe the entire length of Reagan’s large intestine.

Three previous exams have been conducted to determine whether there has been a recurrence of the cancer that was discovered in July, 1985. At that time, approximately two feet of his intestine was removed after a malignant growth was found near the top of his colon.

Since then, polyps--smooth, projecting growths of mucus membrane--have been removed each time, but none have been found to be cancerous.

During an examination last Jan. 4 at the Bethesda Naval Medical Center, four benign polyps were removed, with no evidence of new cancer found.

Weinberg said the President would again undergo the examination, which is described as uncomfortable but not debilitating, in about six months.

Polyps such as those removed from the 76-year-old President occur frequently in older people, medical authorities say. Unless they are removed promptly, they can grow into serious cancerous lesions such as the one removed two years ago in major surgery.

A colonoscopy entails a probe of the bowel with a fiber-optic instrument. When a polyp is found, a tiny wire loop at the end of the colonoscope is used to snare the growth and clip it off. The wound is then sealed with a coagulating electrical current that runs through the wire.

The President did not have an X-ray or CAT scan, as he did when the procedure was performed at Bethesda.

After Friday’s examination, Hutton said: “The President continues to be in excellent health.”

While the previous examinations have been conducted at the hospital, the procedure Friday was carried out at the White House, because “it could be done quickly and comfortably here, without disrupting the President’s schedule,” White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said.