It is not uncommon for doctors to miss polyps during a colonoscopy.
There are no figures locally on how often this happens but these can be due to three main factors:
- Poor bowel preparation causing the polyp to be obscured by stools
- Small polyps behind the corners or folds of the colon, which are not visualized well during the colonoscopy
- Inexperienced endoscopist
To find out more about getting a colonoscopy in Singapore, you can read my Complete Guide To Colonoscopies In Singapore (2018).