Colonoscopy, by Joseph A. Murray, MD. of the Mayo Clinic Rochester, MN, a Gastroenterologist who Specializes in the Treatment of Celiac Disease

Those patients for whom there is a high suspicion for celiac disease should have a small bowel biopsy which can be obtained by an experienced endoscopist in the distal duodendum. The best noninvasive tests available for screening for asymptomatic celiac disease are the specific serological tests. These are of several varieties: the anti-gliadin, anti-endomysial, or anti-reticulin antibodies. Our experience and the literature support the use as of endomysial antibody test as the single most specific and probably most sensitive for celiac disease. This test has now become available in specialty laboratories as well as in a small number of academic institutions. All of the tests should be done with the subjects on a normal gluten containing diet. A combination of endomysial and gliadin...