Jump to content

  • Welcome to Celiac.com!

    You have found your celiac tribe! Join us and ask questions in our forum, share your story, and connect with others.



  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A1):

    Celiac.com Sponsor (A1-M):

  • Get Celiac.com Updates:
    Support Our Content
    eNewsletter
    Donate

Was This A Ttg Or Ema Result?

KBart

Recommended Posts

KBart Apprentice
KBart
Posted

My daughter has been having constant stomach pain for a over a month. She had an appointment with the GI doctor and she ran a full panel of tests. Everything came back normal except a test which was labeled as Tissue transglutaminase AB IGA. But then in the body of the test so to speak it said Endomysial AB IGA. The result was 47 and the range was under 20 normal, 20-30 weak positive and above 30 positive. Was this the TTG or EMA?

She also had a IGA serum value of 55 with a normal range of 15-241.

Can anyone help me understand this? I'm waiting on a call from her doctor but just trying to do a little research in the meantime. She is 4.5 years old.

Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):
Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):

Celiac.com Sponsor (A8-M):


Gemini Experienced
Gemini
Posted

That sounds like the tTg IgA antibody test, which looks for intestinal damage.  The EMA is usually reported back as a titer or just a positive or negative.  Either way, the positive result may be the answer to your daughter's stomach pain.  It would have been helpful if the doctor had done a full panel but I would wait to hear what he/she has to say.

 

The EMA is very specific to Celiac and if that was the test they ran and it was positive, your daughter most likely has Celiac Disease.  Is there a family history?

RMJ Mentor
RMJ
Posted

The TTG and EMA tests look for the same autoantibodies, but in different ways. Those results look like a TTG test (done in a test tube). The EMA test is evaluated under a microscope and results are in the format 1:##.

nvsmom Community Regular
nvsmom
Posted

Yep. A positive EMA IgA would likely say 1:80 (this is sometimes a negative for some labs), 1:160, or 1:320.

 

Your little one likely has celiac disease.  The tTG IgA is about 95% specific to celiac disease.  The 5% of false posotives are caused by colitis, crohn's, diabetes, thyroiditis, chronic liver disease, or a very serious infection.  If she is having GI issues, and has a positive tTG IgA, that is most likely celiac disease.  She is quite positive too, which makes it even more liley that it is celiac disease.

 

If you want to run more tests, ask for the EMA IgA, and the deaminated gliadin peptides tests (DGP IgA and DGP IgG) which is the best test for detecting celiac disease in children.  The ttG tests have a higher false negative rate in children so it is lucky her positive was caught. 

 

There is also the endoscopic biopsy.  If you have this doen ensure they take at least 6 samples.

 

You should probably get yourselves and other chil;dren checked, and rechecked every 2 years, because celiac disease is a genetic disease so your family is at high risk of developing it.

 

Best wishes.

KBart Apprentice
KBart
Posted
  • Author

That sounds like the tTg IgA antibody test, which looks for intestinal damage. The EMA is usually reported back as a titer or just a positive or negative. Either way, the positive result may be the answer to your daughter's stomach pain. It would have been helpful if the doctor had done a full panel but I would wait to hear what he/she has to say.

The EMA is very specific to Celiac and if that was the test they ran and it was positive, your daughter most likely has Celiac Disease. Is there a family history?

No known family history.

Thank you all for your replies. I'll hopefully hear from the doctor soon.

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A19):


  • Member Statistics

    • Total Members
      132,393
    • Most Online (within 30 mins)
      7,748
    HeckelCrazy
    Newest Member
    HeckelCrazy
    Joined
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A20):

  • Forum Statistics

    • Total Topics
      121.5k
    • Total Posts
      1m
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A22):



  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A21):


  • Upcoming Events

  • Posts

    • Scott Adams
      Coeliac UK Research Conference 2025

      By Scott Adams · Posted

      Thanks for sharing this!
    • Scott Adams
      Shingles - Could It Be Related to Gluten/ Celiac

      By Scott Adams · Posted

      I had the same thing happen to me at around your age, and to this day it's the most painful experience I've ever had. For me it was the right side of my head, above my ear, running from my nerves in my neck. For years before my outbreak I felt a tingling sensation shooting along the exact nerves that ended up exactly where the shingles blisters appeared. I highly recommend the two shot shingles vaccine as soon as your turn 50--I did this because I started to get the same tingling sensations in the same area, and after the vaccines I've never felt that again.  As you likely know, shingles is caused by chicken pox, which was once though of as one of those harmless childhood viruses that everyone should catch in the wild--little did they know that it can stay in your nervous system for your entire life, and cause major issues as you age.
    • trents
      Blood tests low iGA 4 years later digestive issues

      By trents · Posted

      Keep us posted.
    • Clear2me
      Gluten free nuts

      By Clear2me · Posted

      Thanks for the info. I recently moved to CA from Wyoming and in that western region the Costco and Sam's /Walmart Brands have many nuts and more products that are labeled gluten free. I was told it's because those products are packaged and processed  in different  plants. Some plants can be labeled  gluten free because the plant does not also package gluten products and they know that for example the trucks, containers equipment are not used to handle wheat, barely or Rye. The Walmart butter in the western region says gluten free but not here. Most of The Kirkland and Members Mark brands in CA say they are from Vietnam. That's not the case in Wyoming and Colorado. I've spoken to customer service at the stores here in California. They were not helpful. I check labels every time I go to the store. The stores where I am are a Sh*tshow. The Magalopoly grocery chain Vons/Safeway/Albertsons, etc. are the same. Fishers and Planters brands no longer say gluten free. It could be regional. There are nuts with sugar coatings and fruit and nut mixes at the big chains that are labeled gluten free but I don't want the fruit or sugar.  It's so difficult I am considering moving again. I thought it would be easier to find safe food in a more populated area. It's actually worse.  I was undiagnosed for most of my life but not because I didn't try to figure it out. So I have had all the complications possible. I don't have any spare organs left.  No a little gluten will hurt you. The autoimmune process continues to destroy your organs though you may not feel it. If you are getting a little all the time and as much as we try we probably all are and so the damage is happening. Now the FDA has pretty much abandoned celiacs. There are no requirements for labeling for common allergens on medications. All the generic drugs made outside the US are not regulated for common allergens and the FDA is taking the last gluten free porcine Thyroid med, NP Thyroid, off the market in 2026. I was being glutened by a generic levothyroxin. The insurance wouldn't pay for the gluten free brand any longer because the FDA took them all off their approved formulary. So now I am paying $147 out of pocket for NP Thyroid but shortly I will have no safe choice. Other people with allergies should be aware that these foreign generic pharmaceutical producers are using ground shellfish shell as pill coatings and anti-desicants. The FDA knows this but  now just waits for consumers to complain or die. The take over of Wholefoods by Amazon destroyed a very reliable source of good high quality food for people with allergies and for people who wanted good reliably organic food. Bezos thought  he could make a fortune off people who were paying alot for organic and allergen free food by substituting cheap brands from Thailand. He didn't understand who the customers were who were willing to pay more for that food and why. I went from spending hundreds to nothing because Bezo removed every single trusted brand that I was buying. Now they are closing Whole foods stores across the country. In CA, Mill Valley store (closed July 2025) and the National Blvd. store in West Los Angeles (closed October 2025). The Cupertino store will close.  In recent years I have learned to be careful and trust no one. I have been deleberately glutened in a restaurant that was my favorite (a new employee). The Chef owner was not in the kitchen that night. I've had  a metal scouring pad cut up over my food.The chain offered gluten free dishes but it only takes one crazy who thinks you're a problem as a food fadist. Good thing I always look. Good thing they didn't do that to food going to a child with a busy mom.  I give big tips and apologize for having to ask in restaurants but mental illness seem to be rampant. I've learn the hard way.          I don't buy any processed food that doesn't say gluten free.  I am a life long Catholic. I worked for the Church while at college. I don't go to Church anymore because the men at the top decided Jesus is gluten. The special hosts are gluten less not gluten free. No I can't drink wine after people with gluten in their mouth and a variety of deadly germs. I have been abandoned and excluded by my Church/Family.  Having nearly died several times, safe food is paramount. If your immune system collapses as mine did, you get sepsis. It can kill you very quickly. I spent 5 days unconscious and had to have my appendix and gall bladder removed because they were necrotic. I was 25. They didn't figure out I had celiac till I was 53. No one will take the time to tell you what can happen when your immune system gets overwhelmed from its constant fighting the gluten and just stops. It is miserable that our food is processed so carelessly. Our food in many aspects is not safe. And the merging of all the grocery chains has made it far worse. Its a disaster. Krogers also recently purchased Vitacost where I was getting the products I could no longer get at Whole Foods. Kroger is eliminating those products from Vitacost just a Bezos did from WF. I am looking for reliable and certified sources for nuts. I have lived the worst consequences of the disease and being exposed unknowingly and maliciously. Once I was diagnosed I learned way more than anyone should have to about the food industry.  I don't do gray areas. And now I dont eat out except very rarely.  I have not eaten fast food for 30 years before the celiac diagnosis. Gluten aside..... It's not food and it's not safe.  No one has got our backs. Sharing safe food sources is one thing we can do to try to be safe.        
    • Mmoc
      Blood tests low iGA 4 years later digestive issues

      By Mmoc · Posted

      Thank you kindly for your response. I have since gotten the other type of bloods done and am awaiting results. 
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

NOTICE: This site places This site places cookies on your device (Cookie settings). on your device. Continued use is acceptance of our Terms of Use, and Privacy Policy.