diff --git a/tests/integration/test_dbapi_integration.py b/tests/integration/test_dbapi_integration.py
index 625a282b..53f86504 100644
--- a/tests/integration/test_dbapi_integration.py
+++ b/tests/integration/test_dbapi_integration.py
@@ -1973,6 +1973,33 @@ def test_spooled_segments_iterator_protocol(trino_connection):
     assert count == 60175, f"Expected 60175 rows, got {count}"
 
 
+@pytest.mark.skipif(
+    trino_version() <= 466,
+    reason="spooling protocol was introduced in version 466"
+)
+def test_spooled_segments_lazy_description(trino_connection):
+    """Verify that accessing cursor.description does not materialize the lazy spooled iterator."""
+    if trino_connection._client_session.encoding is None:
+        pytest.skip("spooling requires an encoding")
+
+    cur = trino_connection.cursor()
+    cur.execute("SELECT * FROM tpch.tiny.lineitem")
+
+    assert not isinstance(cur._query._result._rows, list), (
+        f"Expected lazy iterator for spooled results, got {type(cur._query._result._rows)}"
+    )
+
+    desc = cur.description
+    assert desc is not None
+    assert len(desc) > 0
+
+    assert not isinstance(cur._query._result._rows, list), (
+        f"Expected lazy iterator after description access, got {type(cur._query._result._rows)}"
+    )
+
+    assert len(cur.fetchall()) == 60175
+
+
 def get_cursor(legacy_prepared_statements, run_trino):
     host, port = run_trino
 
diff --git a/trino/client.py b/trino/client.py
index ac32d75f..97ef11ae 100644
--- a/trino/client.py
+++ b/trino/client.py
@@ -880,7 +880,21 @@ def columns(self):
             while not self._columns and not self.finished and not self.cancelled:
                 # Columns are not returned immediately after query is submitted.
                 # Continue fetching data until columns information is available and push fetched rows into buffer.
-                self._result.rows += self.fetch()
+                #
+                # Two protocols produce rows differently:
+                #  - Direct: fetch() returns a list - accumulate into the existing list.
+                #  - Spooling: fetch() returns a lazy iterator - replace rows and stop,
+                #    because we cannot cheaply check iterator length.
+                new_rows = self.fetch()
+                if isinstance(new_rows, list):
+                    self._result.rows += new_rows
+                else:
+                    try:
+                        first_row = next(new_rows)
+                        self._result.rows = itertools.chain([first_row], new_rows)
+                        break
+                    except StopIteration:
+                        self._result.rows = []
         return self._columns
 
     @property