The mucosa beyond the polyps in juvenile polyposis.

Little is known of early histologic changes in the mucosa of the colon aside from the polyps in Juvenile Polyposis. Provided with a surgical specimen of a total colectomy of a 6-year-old boy with this condition, this report describes those changes. The mucosa depicted a peculiar serrated profile of the uppermost part of the crypts due to elongation of them, dilated openings, and scant stroma. Also present were frequent aberrant crypts. Early juvenile polyps presented associated with lympho-glandular sites as distorted and microcystically dilated crypts containing granular and filamentous mucoid material. The findings possibly represent the abnormal cytologic potential of this genetic condition.