Histologic Follow-up of People With Celiac Disease on a Gluten-free Diet: Slow and Incomplete Recovery

Wahab PJ, Meijer JW, Mulder CJ.

Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Rijnstate Hospital Arnhem, The Netherlands.

Celiac.com Sponsor (A12):
Am J Clin Pathol 118(3):459-463, 2002

Celiac.com 10/28/2002 - The following study strongly supports follow-up care and testing for people with celiac disease. As the study found, over 10% of people with diagnosed celiac disease have still not fully recovered even after five years of treatment.
To assess histologic recovery in response to gluten withdrawal in celiac disease, 158 patients seen in our hospital during a 15-year period underwent follow-up small intestine biopsies (SIBs) within 2 years after starting a gluten-free diet; further SIBs were done if villous atrophy was present. A modified Marsh classification was used (IIIA, partial villous atrophy; IIIB, subtotal villous atrophy; IIIC, total villous atrophy). Of patients with Marsh IIIA, IIIB, or IIIC lesions, histologic remission was seen in 65.0% within 2 years, 85.3% within 5 years, and 89.9% in long-term follow-up. Eleven patients (7.0%) with persisting (partial) villous atrophy had symptoms and signs of malabsorption and were considered to have refractory celiac disease; 5 of them developed an enteropathy-associated T-cell lymphoma. Children recovered up to 95% within 2 years and 100% in the long-term. Histologic recovery in celiac disease after starting a gluten-free diet takes time and is incomplete or absent in a substantial subgroup of patients (10.1% villous atrophy after 5 years). Systematic follow-up of patients with celiac disease and the malabsorption syndrome and secondary complications is needed.