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Iga Deficient Test Results

Haschmid9

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Haschmid9 Newbie
Haschmid9
Posted

I daughter was recently diagnosed with celiac disease so I was tested last week. My results showed that I am IgA deficient but my other test (transglutaminase) came back normal. What does this mean about my results? I heard being IgA deficient can sometimes mess provide a false negative result. Should I encourage my doctor to do more tests?

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LauraTX Rising Star
LauraTX
Posted

Yes, a low IgA total means your transglutaminase IgA test could potentially be a false negative.  Definitely encourage your doctor to do more tests, and follow up with your primary care doctor on your IgA levels being low, to make sure you don't need that looked into.  And if you have other children, encourage them to all get testing done.  Here is a list of tests you can ask for.  If your IgG is normal, you can rely on those instead of the IgA versions of the tests.  Definitely make sure they pull a total IgG to make sure they are valid.

 

-tTG IgA and tTG IgG
-DGP IgA and DGP IgG
-EMA IgA 
-total serum IgA and IgG (control test)
-AGA IGA and AGA IgG - older and less reliable tests largely replace by the DGP tests
-endoscopic biopsy - make sure at least 6 samples are taken

 

Welcome to the forum and let us know how it goes! :)

  • 2 weeks later...
Zebra007 Contributor
Zebra007
Posted

Yes, a low IgA total means your transglutaminase IgA test could potentially be a false negative.  Definitely encourage your doctor to do more tests, and follow up with your primary care doctor on your IgA levels being low, to make sure you don't need that looked into.  And if you have other children, encourage them to all get testing done.  Here is a list of tests you can ask for.  If your IgG is normal, you can rely on those instead of the IgA versions of the tests.  Definitely make sure they pull a total IgG to make sure they are valid.

 

-tTG IgA and tTG IgG
-DGP IgA and DGP IgG
-EMA IgA 
-total serum IgA and IgG (control test)
-AGA IGA and AGA IgG - older and less reliable tests largely replace by the DGP tests
-endoscopic biopsy - make sure at least 6 samples are taken

 

Welcome to the forum and let us know how it goes! :)

Hi Laure, I don't have a clue what any of this means...and I think I need to  :) could you suggest a link that explains it easily..thank you.  

cyclinglady Grand Master
cyclinglady
Posted

The University of Chicago has an excellent celiac website. They are one of the leading research hospitals. Your local library should have some books on celiac disease too.

nvsmom Community Regular
nvsmom
Posted

This report is quite good too: Open Original Shared Link

LauraTX Rising Star
LauraTX
Posted

Hi Laure, I don't have a clue what any of this means...and I think I need to  :) could you suggest a link that explains it easily..thank you.  

 

Lets see where did those links go....all the factsheets from Univ of Chicago are really helpful.

This explains all the antibody blood tests: Open Original Shared Link

Genetic tests: Open Original Shared Link

Endoscopy and 5-6 biopsy sites:  Open Original Shared Link

 

In fact, anyone who is needing to get info to their doctor on how to diagnose will highly benefit from just printing those 3 out and getting them to their doctor.  On the Open Original Shared Link website, some of the better, more technical info is under the "Medical professionals" column.  So, depending on what labs are available in a person's area, what the doctor feels comfortable doing, etc, it can really help to have that big list and the factsheets.

Zebra007 Contributor
Zebra007
Posted

Thank you all very much I will start looking at this...

 

There is so much that I don't know about this disease, rashes, pains in joints etc, which is why I need to stick around and become more informed.

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