Familial Adenomatous Polyposis (FAP)-A Case Study and Review of Literature.

Familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) is a syndrome characteristically having numerous (hundreds to thousands) polyps in the epithelium of the large intestines with an autosomal dominant inheritance caused by germ line mutations in adenomatous polyposis coli (APC) gene in chromosome 5q21. Most FAP patients have a family history of colorectal polyps and cancer but 25-30% of them are "de novo", without any clinical or genetic evidence of FAP in family members. Prophylactic proctocolectomy is required in almost all patients since all affected patients inevitably develop cancer.