[Pharmgirlkelly]

I was undergoing work up for MS-like symptoms and nothing has come up. However, in the process, the neurologist ordered celiac disease tests and everything was normal except for the Deamidated Gliadin Antibodies IgA. It was 24 with a normal range being 0-19. She repeated the lab with the same results. I am confused on what this would mean when it's the only one of the tests to be out of range. Any thoughts? I am scheduled for an upper and lower endoscopy in a few weeks. I questioned that as I just had a clean colonoscopy about 15 months ago and wasn't due back for 10 years. I thought the upper endoscopy would be enough to diagnose. So...I'll take thoughts on that as well please!! Thank you!

[glenntaj]

--the endoscopy is a good idea, as evidence of villious damage is the gold standard of celiac diagnosis and that can only be obtained by endoscopy.

The anti-transglutaminase IgA antibody test is the one most specific to villious damage of the small intestine (some of the other assays in a celiac panel are more sensitive but less specific than that one).

Also, an upper and lower endoscopy usually means they are going to look at your esophagus and stomach (upper) and duodenum and upper small intestine (lower). The latter (lower) is much more likely where evidence of celiac might be found because it involves looking at the small intestinal villi. Still, make sure they take samples from various locations--8 to 12 is better protocol than just one or two--as damage from celiac can be patchy and hard to find, especially in early stages, and is sometimes missed when insufficient samples are taken.