Cancerous cervical polyp

Hi! I am 45 and just been diagnosed, I have had 18 months of irregular bleeding/spotting, a year of ultrasounds concentrating on my ovaries etc, went for my routine smear and they couldn’t do it due to a very large polyp in my cervix, I was assured that 98% of polyps are benign. I was referred within 2 weeks for removal. After being called back and told I was to see a consultant I knew it was bad news, he said they weren’t expecting what they found and it’s a rare sarcoma, he said names but I didn’t catch them as was in shock. I’ve had my ct scan, biopsy’s and an mri booked next week, pre op for a full hysterectomy is also next week. Things have moved so fast. Im feeling very scared to the point I can’t sleep or eat. Im so worried it has spread beyond my womb. Has anyone else had anything like this? 

  • Sorry you're going through this. I hope you can safely have treatment soon as it must be an awful worry. 

    I almost feel guilty as I haven't had a diagnosis, but was trying to find threads on cervical polyps and occurrence of them being cancerous. 

    It's apparent that even though I keep getting told polyps are rarely malignant and not to worry, that I'm not being over cautious after all. 

  • Offline in reply to K1966

    I’m sorry to hear that your surgery hasn’t gone ahead, that whole episode must have been so frightening for you! 
    That’s reassuring about the scan though so hopefully it’s all contained, I really hope they get you in for the surgery asap, please let me know how it goes, I will be thinking of you as I understand how scary this is. 

  • Fingers crossed that they get that out of you! I can’t believe you would be left so long, it’s obviously quite large! 

  • Offline in reply to K-star

    I’ve heard from the nurse today following the MDT meeting.  Got to have investigations and an anaesthetic assessment before surgery date can be booked.  I haven’t been given a timescale but hope it won’t be long

  • Hi 

    I’m so sorry that you experienced this and glad from reading further on that it was localised and that your surgery was a success. 


     I wanted to ask you and others.  Was there a reason they sped up the polyp removal? 2 weeks is very quick. 

    I ask because I am trying to keep a level head and not stress myself out.

    But I have had irregular bleeds since October / bleeding 75% of the time. So much so that having an IV iron infusion next week. (For last 4 years has been light spotting only for 1.5 days on avg due to IUD coil)
    After reading up on Polyps I noticed other symptoms such as bleeds after sex and white/ yellow discharge which have been going on for longer.

    But the reason I am worried is that on the 19th January I was taken to hospital by ambulance due to acute pain in lower back and pelvis to the point I could not walk. An MRI of my spine was done and spine injury ruled out. I was in the hospital for close to a week and discharged being told, it’s muscular take pain killers and refer to pain clinic and physio. 

    while there I repeatedly asked given my female issues for 3+ months whether that could have caused the pain and was repeatedly dismissed/ignored and no one from gynae came to see me. 


    I then saw a chiropractor privately post discharge who did more physical tests than had been done in hospital in one week and said it was definitely internal and not muscular or skeletal. 

    fast forward a week and I had an appointment to have coil Removed at GP. She after half an hour gave up and said she could not see or find the coil/IUD due to bleeding but that it was helpful because she had seen and found a polyp. I too was assured that it was not cancerous. 

    She said it explained the bleeding but not the pain. I was then referred by GP to gynaecology at same hospital I was in. For removal of polyp and the coil. 

    I received the call today to say my appointment for polyp and coil removal is on the 06th August and that the gynae team deemed it ‘routine’ and therefore not urgent. 

    but that is 6+ months away  and my concern is that polyps have the same symptoms broadly speaking as cervical cancer, except for one thing CC can also cause pain in lower back and or pelvis which I am still experiencing 

    what would you do? Should I push for more urgency? Is that even possible? How would I do that? 

    I appreciate that there is only a 2% chance however 3 weeks on and I am still in pain with no real answers and surely early detection if it is CC would be better? 

    Feeling very lost, unheard and defeated. 

  • Hi, 

    The reason mine was urgent was because of the size of the polyp, it was hanging out of my cervix, when I was about to have the smear she said I can’t do it as you have a rather large polyp, she called a GP in to check and she was the one who put me on the 2 week cancer path, i asked her should I be worried it was cancer and she said it looks like a normal polyp, even while I had it removed they commented on the size of it. I had no pelvic pain etc just the bleeding and weird discharge. 


    in July i had an internal, she wanted to check my cervix because of the bleeding, no polyp was present, I had an implant in august and I’m convinced it caused the polyp to grow! 

    since I wrote this post I’ve had a hysterectomy, no sarcoma was found in my womb it was just in that polyp, I’m waiting on the sarcoma MDT to go over my histology as I know it’s a Adenosarcoma 1a but not if it’s high or low grade. 

    I would exaggerate my symptoms if I were you as it’s too long to wait, They don’t know by looking at a polyp what is inside it, thank god the GP I had moved things along. 

    let me know how you get on, I’m on a polyp group on Facebook, I always find that helpful too. 

  • I truly sympathise with your situation. I was given a referral 30th December and have been told its a 6 month wait for a Gynae/colposcopy appointment. I'm so frustrated. I even looked into private healthcare options but the cost was astronomical! It's awful knowing the polyp is there. 

  • I believe mine was so fast because they assigned my case to the cancer pathway.   At the time I thought they were being over cautious, but thankfully it proved to be the correct decision.

    maybe you can ask why this hasn’t been considered for you.   

  • Offline in reply to K-star

    I have had an Echo and pre-op assessment done this week.   They also fitted a coil as a preventative measure to stop the cancer spreading out from the cervix.  The anaesthetist cannot give me any particular reason for wny I had the episode and is confident that as my heart and lung function is normal another surgery can be performed under GA.    I have been given a surgery date of 26th Feb.  Thankfully not long to wait, and got everything crossed that the next surgery will be a success.

  • It sounds like you're getting thorough care and I hope your surgery on 26th goes well and that your healing journey is swift.